Apple’s iOS4.1 will be beaming out to iDevices everywhere this week and landing in the hands of eager new buyers pre-installed on the new iPod touch. The completely free update hasn’t received quite as much attention as the new Apple TV, iPod touch or iPod nano, but most of you probably heard about the major features.

Game Center will finally enter primetime and the iPhone 4 camera can snap HDR photographs with 4.1. Some  smaller features and bug fixes are also right around the corner: head past the break for a comprehensive list, including a few things Apple didn’t harp on during last week’s press event.
 
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We like product leaks as much as the next person, but what we don't like is the blurry, indistinguishable photos that go with them. Is that an iPhone, or a TV remote? Perhaps a chalkboard slate with the Apple logo drawn on? There's really no way to know for sure.

The obvious solution is also the simplest: learn to take better pictures. Automatic modes on photo and video cameras can help, but you could argue they do more harm than good. These cameras may take better pictures, but they're not making us better shooters — there's no feedback to show us how. 

That sounds like a job for artificial intelligence to us.
 
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If October 10th is too far away, but you have an insatiable urge to play with Ubuntu's upcoming release, you're in luck. The beta for Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" has been uploaded to servers, seeded as torrents, and is ready to find its way onto your computer.   

Before you throw Canonical's latest on a CD or USB drive, here's what you can expect from the 10.10 desktop and netbook editions.   
 
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Google's Android mobile OS is gaining considerable ground on Apple's iOS, according to a recent report from Quantcast. While the iPhone remains the dominant platform in the mobile web market, they're dipping while Android-based phones are seeing considerable growth. According to the report, Android-based mobile web use has increased from under 10% to 25% of the overall market, while iOS-based web use dipped from just under 70% to 56% of the market.  

Here's some context for these numbers, and our thoughts on why this is happening.

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If you want to take consistently sharp photos, you need to make sure your camera's lens and sensor are both clean. If any smudges show up on the glass, or if any particles accumulate on the CMOS, you can expect fuzziness, spots, and other unwanted things to show up in your pictures. To do this, you need to do two things: protect your camera's sensitive parts, and clean your camera's sensitive parts when dirt still manages to get in. 

Protecting your lens from dust is actually extremely simple.
 
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Last week we brought you the details on Samsung’s worst-kept secret, the Android-powered Galaxy Tab. The new tablet PC will be gunning for the iPad, no doubt, but Samsung’s big reveal left one important question: how much is the device going to cost? Samsung plans to launch it in Europe before bringing it to the US, and early pricing speculation has been exorbitantly high.

If any of the reported numbers turn out to be true, Europeans could be paying around $1000 for a Galaxy Tab. For instance, word out of France has the Galaxy Tab pegged at €699 (about $900), which is the price of a 32GB 3G-equipped iPad. But Germany is reporting a price of €799--if Samsung is matching Apple’s pricing, they’re offering half the storage for the same amount! 

Here’s what we want to know--how much would you pay for a Galaxy Tab? How about $200? It's possible.

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Canon EXPO was mostly a demonstration grounds for Canon's latest and upcoming products, but the company offered at least some looks into its vision of the far-off future. In addition to the 4K concept camcorder, Canon also showed off some non-functional concept mock-ups of possible products. While the display model offered little information about the technical aspects of Canon's long-term plans, it gave a good view of how the company thinks the future will look: white, smooth, shiny, and with few physical controls.  

Here's why Canon's future cameras would fit right in in Mass Effect.
 
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The greatest trick the computing industry ever pulled was convincing consumers that multifunction printers were worth their money. These are big, monolithic machines that wouldn't look out of place on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. They are slow. They perform a hundred damn functions, most of which are never used.

The problem is that we see perceived value in the things we don't necessarily need. Why buy just a printer, we might argue, when we can get one with a scanner, copier, SD Card reader, fax machine and mini fridge built in? Those things could come in handy one day, so it's better to have them than not — or so the thinking goes. 

But in reality, that's not so wise. The simple fact is, a multifunction printer — and perhaps printers in general — just aren't worth your time.

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PC gamers love to lord blistering framerates, buttery-smooth anti-aliasing and precise mouse+keyboard controls over their console brethren, but sometimes nothing beats the feel of a sturdy controller in your hands. For a long time, good PC gamepads were a rarity, and you could forget about games easily supporting them out of the box. Thankfully, times have changed, and plenty of computer games easily recognize controllers like the Xbox 360 USB gamepad. In fact, all three current-gen console controllers work on Windows and OSX without too much hassle.

Eager to lure gamers away from the controllers they’re so familiar with, Logitech has launched a new line of gamepads that look like typical third-party renditions of the Dualshock, though the candy-colored face buttons could have been plucked right off an Xbox 360 controller. 
 
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Welcome to the weekly Android Market Roundup. If it's new, or newly updated and noteworthy, you'll find it here. Just scan the QR code next to each app with Barcode Scanner or Google Goggles to head right to the Market. This week we talk about an Android security app, a useful app for a retailer, a hotly anticipated game about displeased avians, monitoring your phone usage, and streaming video to the web. 

Get your phone ready, and check out these apps!
 
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