Google's Chrome web browser has finally launched for the Android smartphone platform.

The long-awaited arrival comes in public Beta for smartphones and tablets currently using Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

That means very few Android users are going to be able to access the popular browser at this stage.

The Android browser teams-up with your desktop version to bring the tabs open on your computer, directly to your smartphone through your Chrome account.

Your favourite and previously visited sites will also sync to the mobile iteration, while the fast-search functionality is also on-board.

New tabs and link preview

In terms of looks and appearance, Chrome for Android Beta has re-imagined the way tabs are presented to ensure they fit comfortably on the screen, while gestures will allow you to flip through them "like a pack of cards," Google says. Cool.

There's also a new feature called Link Preview, which allows you to easily select the correct link on a smaller mobile device by automatically zooming in to make hitting the wrong list a thing of the past.

We're excited to finally see Chrome land on Android and, while it's sure to become the default browser on all Google-based devices before too long we'd love to see it available to more than the tiny percentage of users currently graced with ICS.

Here's Google's video preview below.

Microsoft plans to launch the Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone on Valentines Day in a special bundle costing $899, according to reports.

The Verge reckons the pack will include the unlocked Windows Phone-running smartphone, a Nokia Play 360 wireless speaker, an in-ear Bluetooth headset and a Purity HD Stereo headset.

Microsoft first announced that the Lumia 800 would be heading to the United States as an unlocked device at CES 2012, although there are no present plans to release it outside of the bundle.

The bundle, albeit extremely pricey, seems to present an opportunity for Valentine's Day shoppers to get a super-exclusive handset through Microsoft's retail stores.

Nokia il-Lumia-nating the US

Instead of launching the Lumia 800 in the US, Nokia focused on announcing the larger 4.3-inch, 4G-enabled Lumia 900 device at CES 2012.

That device is scheduled to launch exclusively on the AT&T network on March 18th, while a white version of the Nokia Lumia 800 has also been confirmed

A paper written by an ex-Apple intern who now works for the company has revealed secret plans to port Mac OS X to an ARM chipset.

Tristan Schaap did a 12-week internship with the Platform Technologies Group at Apple, and penned a thesis on the work he had been set, namely working to get the "lower half" of Mac OS X to boot onto an ARM processor.

The paper was submitted in 2010 but not published until some months ago due to the sensitive nature of its contents.

Peach Schaaps

But just because Schaap did work on this project and is now employed by the Core OS department doesn't mean we're definitely going to see ARM architecture in the next generation of Macs.

It may have been an experiment, it could have been a decoy or the project may have once been planned and since been pulled, who knows.

Apple's Mac range currently rocks Intel chipsets but rumours have been around for years that the company wants to try its hand at an ARM platform.

But as Apple Insider points out, Tim Cook seems reticent to take those plans further, telling analysts last week that the iPad should satisfy those who would want such a thing as an ARM-based MacBook Air.

Samsung is considering taking full control of its OLED display business by bringing Samsung Mobile Display in-house and, in turn, giving the company first dibs on any new screen technology that's in the pipeline.

As it stands, Samsung Mobile Display is owned by both Samsung Electronics (which has a 64.4 per cent share) and Samsung SDI (which has the remaining 35.6 per cent hold of the company).

Samsung SDI has been around for a good 40 years, creating a number of display innovations – including LCD, PDP and AMOLED.

This is all very well, but Samsung has hinted that its display innovation arm could be about to become part of the big Samsung house.

Considering that Samsung Mobile Display is the biggest manufacturer of OLED panels in the world, then this could mean that Samsung is about to have even more power over a technology that's all set to overtake LCD in the years to come.

Screen there, done that

Reuters quotes Samsung's filing to the South Korea stock exchange as saying: "We are considering merging the business to improve synergy, but a final decision has yet to be made."

Speaking to the Korean Times about the possible buyout, a spokesperson said: "We are moving to strengthen our capability in components and the idea of selection and concentration is in play here."

Samsung Mobile Display is in rude health at the moment, having enjoyed a 45 per cent revenue jump in 2011 to 6.6 trillion South Korean won, which equates to £3.7 billion.

The likes of HTC, Motorola and Nokia are all using the company's screen technology.

While the changing of the guard at Samsung Mobile Display would not stop any of these companies from using the technology, it may well mean that Samsung gets first dibs on new screen tech in the future.

Which means Samsung may well bring things like foldable phone screens and also tablets to the market first.

Gaming PC vendor Alienware recently took the wraps off its X51 - a smaller form factor desktop to go alongside its not-so-dainty Aurora line of gaming desktop behemoths.

We got up close with the Core i7 variant of the new mini gaming PC at a demo event yesterday.

The first thing that strikes you is the size - it isn't that much taller than an Xbox 360 - 32cm high at its shortest point and less than 10cm in thickness.

The box has been designed to either sit horizontally or stand vertically, and Alienware is expecting a reasonable number to find homes underneath HDTVs in living rooms.

So what we're looking at here is a couple of the £999 units each boasting a 3.4Ghz Intel Core i7-2600, Nvidia Geforce GTX 555 graphics and 8GB of memory.

Alienware is keen to stress that there's a market for a performance gaming system without the bulk - it believes people are looking for smaller machines, but that gamers still want a desktop PC rather than a laptop. The company is keen to stress it wanted to sit the X51 above traditional small form factor (SFF) systems that don't have a great deal of power or graphics capabilities.

As you can see, there's a slot-loading optical drive on the front (24x dual-layer DVD), as well as a couple of USB 2.0 ports. There are a couple of USB 3.0 ports on the back as well as three more USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, full complement of audio outputs including SPDIF and two DVIs. 802.11n Wi-Fi is also integrated.

Sadly, there's no Blu-ray option for the optical drive. Booo.

Alienware was keen to demonstrate that the lower end £699 is also very capable - it packs a 3.3GHz Intel Core i3-2120, Nvidia Geforce GT545 graphics, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB HDD. All models sport Windows 7 Home Premium.

There's also a 3GHz Core i5-2320 mid-range variant available.

We love the look of the thing (and yes, you can customise the colours of those LEDs - there are 8,000 different combinations) but we'll be honest - the X51 is a lot of money for what it is, especially since Alienware believes it occupies a mainstream rather than enthusiast segment of the market.

The unit's weigh clocks in at 5.5Kg - Alienware says it occupies only around 15 per cent of the space of one of its traditional desktops. The components inside are user upgradeable.

You also get a Alienware backlit keyboard and mouse in the box. We'll run our benchmarking rule over it when we hold of one in our TechRadar test lab, though Alienware has posted its on basic benchies for the Core i3 and i7 models, which you can see below - click here for a bigger version.

We've gone all Hollywood today with our indepth look at Edward Norton's career highs and, well, mainly lows, and a really relevant look at the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man.

Never fear, we've managed to shoe-horn in some actual tech snippets too, including a philosophical debate on the copyrightability of porn and whether the UK's government should splash out £250,000 on iPads for all its MPs. Short answer: no, it shouldn't.

Can't copyright this – Can you copyright porn? As philosophical questions go, it's not exactly up there with does a tree falling in the woods make the sound of one hand clapping, but it's the defence being used by one woman being sued by adult movie maker Hard Drive for allegedly torrenting a blue movie named Amateur Allure Jen. [TorrentFreak]

Sleb endorsement of the day – Edward Norton's back and he's brought an LG Prada 3.0 phone with him. Apparently he and Daria Werbowy who's, like, a model or something, embody the core values of the handset - namely stylish looks and smart functionality. Yes, we've often thought that Edward Norton's ability to run apps and wirelessly connect to the internet have been a real boon to his Hollywood Career. Gratuitous photo below. [PR]

Zing!-a – what do allegedly spying on players and allegedly skewing game play for the sake of profit have in common? They're both allegedly things that Zynga allegedly partakes in, as alleged by a disgruntled ex-employee answering questions about the Farmville-maker anonymously on Reddit. [Reddit]

United Kingdom of Apple – Slow clap for the Conservatives, whose Sir Alan Haslelhurst has actually gone on record saying that all MPs should be given an iPad to save the country money. He says it's because of "all the work MPs have to do" and will also "reduce the use of paper", while he added baselessly, "There is a pretty sure case to say the supply of these will lead to an overall saving for the public purse." Sure it will. [Metro]

MIND CONTROL – File this under terrifying: neuroscientists are positing that brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) could be used to allow soldiers to control weapon systems by thought alone. Knowing how our minds wander, we're quite concerned for the future of the planet. [Guardian]

Mythical city remains mythical – a Google Ocean mapping error that got wispy myth lovers of a certain ilk all excited about the prospect of Atlantis actually existing has been corrected. As you were. [MSNBC]

Image credit: MSNBC

New news we thought was old – Amazon has overtaken HMV and is now the UK's top entertainment retailer according to Kantar's research. Huh. Who knew HMV had been hanging on in there for so long. Depressingly, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's come in third, fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Play.com and iTunes. [Retail Gazette]

Ambidextrous headphones – You know what we hate about headphones? Having to spend one second checking we've got the buds in the correct ears. Luckily there's needless tech for that, in the form of these proximity-sensing earphone prototypes that adjust the audio depending on which ear it detects that the earphone is in. Thank god. We're not sure how much longer we could have gone on without these. [BBC]

Forgotten but not gone – Facebook photos you thought had been deleted from the site are still accessible up to three years later. Tsk tsk Facebook. Why's that then? It's because these pictures are stored on an old system but soon all photos will be stored on a new system that will delete pics in a month and a half. But then, that's only speedy when compared to the three-year alternative. [Ars Technica]

My spidey senses are tingling – The trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man is giving us butterflies in our tummies. Okay, this isn't technically tech but there is, y'know, science in it (see 0.58) and it's being shot entirely in 3D so… Oh leave us alone and just watch it. [Total Film]

Canon has updated its PowerShot A series of budget compact cameras. Each of the six new models features a 16 million pixel sensor, DIGIC 4 processing and a 28mm wide-angle zoom lens.

The new compacts also feature image stabilisation, although only the more expensive A2400 IS, A3400 IS and A4000 IS feature an optical Image Stabilizer with Intelligent IS technology. This automatically detects the scene being photographed and applies one of six different IS modes, such as Panning ID, Tripod IS or Macro IS.

All six models are capable of shooting 720p movies and come complete with a dedicated Movie Record button. A new Auto control gives instant access to Smart Auto mode, while six creative effects, including Miniature and Monochrome can be applied with the touch of a button.

To keep the cost down, the entry level PowerShot A810 (£89) and A1300 (£109) are powered by AA batteries. Both cameras feature a 2.7-inch LCD scree, with the A1300 adding an optical viewfinder for improved handling in bright light.

The slim PowerShot A2300 (£119) is aimed at fashion-conscious photographers and is available in four different colours. Almost identical in terms of specifications, the A2400 IS (£129) adds both optical and Intelligent Image Stabilisation.

Touchscreen controls

Of more interest, perhaps, is the PowerShot A3400 (£149) which packs the first 3-inch touchscreen LCD in the PowerShot A series. This brings both Touch AF and Touch Shutter functionality, with control enhanced further by dedicated Auto, Movie Record and Help buttons.

Sitting at the top of the new PowerShot series is the PowerShot A4000 IS, (£169) which is the first PowerShot A model to feature an 8x optical zoom lens. Like the A2300, it metal body comes in a choice of four colours.

The PowerShot A4000 IS UK price is £169 and it is available in February. The PowerShot A3400 IS (£149), PowerShot A2400 IS (£129) and PowerShot A2300 (£119) will be available in March. Finally, the PowerShot A810 (£89) and PowerShot A1300 (£109) will be released in April.

Canon PowerShot A810 key specs:

• 16 Megapixels
• 28mm wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom
• 720p movies
• Smart Auto (32 scenes)
• Help button

Canon PowerShot A1300 key specs:

• 16 Megapixels
• 28mm wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom
• Optical viewfinder
• 720p movies
• Smart Auto (32 scenes)

Canon PowerShot A2300 key specs:

• 16 Megapixels
• 28mm wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom
• Smart Auto (32 scenes)
• 720p movies
• Li-ion battery

Canon PowerShot A2400 IS key specs:

• 16 Megapixels
• 28mm wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom
• Intelligent IS
• Smart Auto (32 scenes)
• 720p movies
• Li-ion battery

Canon PowerShot A3400 IS key specs:

• 16 Megapixels
• 28mm wide-angle lens, 5x optical zoom
• Intelligent IS
• Large 3-inch touch screen
• Smart Auto (32 scenes)
• 720p movies

PowerShot A4000 IS key specs:

• 28mm wide-angle lens, 8x optical zoom
• Intelligent IS
• 16 Megapixels
• 720p movies
• Large 3-inch LCD

The Verizon Motorola Droid 4 handset will launch on Friday, the carrier has confirmed.

The fourth iteration of the original classic Android handset will cost $200 on a two-year contract with Big Red from February 10th.

The Droid 4 boasts a slide-out qwerty keyboard and 4G LTE connectivity and, naturally, Motorola boasts that it's the thinnest-4G-device-with-a-slide-out-qwerty-keyboard at just half an inch thick.

With Android Gingerbread on board (upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich), the device also packs a 4-inch LCD screen and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.

Smart Actions

The camera checks-in at eight megapixels, while it will shoot video at full HD 1080p. There's also a front-facing snapper for 4G video chat goodness.

The Droid 4 also brings Motorola's new Smart Actions app, which promises to optimise battery life (handy considering the traditionally terrible battery life on 4G phones), while creating phone rules for certain times of the day.

Check out our hands-on with the Motorola Droid 4 from the recent CES expo, where the device was launched back in January.

RIM is holding its annual developers conference in Amsterdam this week – aptly titled Devcon Europe – and it marks the first time new CEO Thorston Heins has been given the stage to talk about the company's future.

In a rather optimistic keynote, Heins explained that BB10, its upcoming phone software overhaul, and Playbook OS 2.0 prove that RIM is finally getting it right in a fast-changing mobile device market.

"We are ready to compete, make no mistake" explained Heins. "Our upgrades to Playbook 2.0 and our vision for BlackBerry 10 reflect our commitment to get it right."

Putting an interesting spin on the delays BB10 has seen, Heins noted that this extra time has meant RIM can now be proud of an OS which will be able to stand the test of time.

"BlackBerry 10 has been in development for quite some time. We built plans for it 2.5 years ago, began assembling the pieces and have future proofed it to bring it into the next decade," he said.

Heins also remained steadfast in RIM's approach to the smartphone market and hinted that there are no major changes on the horizon.

Uncompromised

"We remain confident in who we are, where our roots are; we are uncompromised in our applications for users and others," he explained.

"The smartphone market is still a young market. There's about a billion phones out there, not even upgraded to smartphone. 65 per cent of people are on regular phones.

"Smartphone adoption is growing 26 per cent year on year and in BB10 we've built an OS that we are confident in.

"I am thrilled to have been passed the reins of RIM, am convinced of our partnerships – we need you – and are convinced of our success."

To prove how valuable devs are to RIM and perhaps to entice more to the platform, Heins noted that BlackBerry apps generate around 40 percent more revenue than Android apps.

And if a dev wants to make money, he also revealed that 13 percent of BlackBerry developers have made more than $100,000 through making apps for RIM - more than those working on Android and iOS.

Playbook OS 2.0 features

Heins also used his keynote to outline some new features coming to PlayBook OS 2.0, the updated OS that should be winging its way to PlayBook's soon.

These include something called Runtime Android, which makes it easier to get Android apps on to your tablet.

PlayBooks will also get remote control functionality – courtesy of BlackBerry Bridge 2.0 which turns your BlackBerry smartphone into a remote.

Other new features include a new-look calendar and contacts section which comes complete with social network integration.

The story of Trendnet and its home security cameras that were being used by random internet dwellers to spy on their owners can't fail to send a shiver down your spine.

There you are thinking you've got a pretty nifty safety mechanism in your home - the sanctuary you go to escape all the horrors of the world, the only place you can really and truly relax and be yourself - but the next thing you know you and your family are being ogled on message boards across the internet.

It doesn't sound real: it sounds like a film, possibly one starring Mark Wahlberg or latter-day Jodie Foster, and it highlighted two things:

1. People are, essentially, awful.

Posting instructions on how to hack into these cameras online was the internet equivalent of finding a wallet on the street and nicking the cash before handing it in to the police.

So busy was Console Cowboys giving itself a pat on the back for out-witting some shoddy lines of code that it didn't stop to think about the consequences for anyone who owned one of these cameras.

But then again, taking this information and running with it (relentlessly searching for boobs, because the internet is nothing if not a pubescent boy) is pretty grim too.

It's non-consensual Chat Roulette. It's installing a two-way mirror in a toilet cubicle. It's being a peeping Tom. It's seedy and it's horrible.

2. You can't take for granted that tech is on your side.

Generally speaking, tech is pretty brilliant. But, like the people who make it, it is not infallible.

Did those people whose videos ended up being discussed on message boards with links to their live feeds alongside, in some cases, map locations put too much trust in the Trendnet cameras and the people who made them?

If the last 12 months with its never-ending Anonymous attacks and PSN outages have shown nothing else, they've proven that no company is 100 per cent secure. In this situation, you have to question whether people should really be leaving these digital windows into their physical lives wide open.

I'm not saying we should call it a day, shut down the internet and go back to carrier pigeons and cassette tapes. But maybe we do all need to take a look at what the technology we've surrounded ourselves with is capable of and ask if the physical hardware is as secure as we're trusting it to be.

People get into the tiny cracks and loopholes left by our gadgets one way or another, and more often than not it's via the internet. That's why we need initiatives like Safer Internet Day that help to educate and, hopefully, stem things like cyber bullying, ID theft and other malicious threats that manifest themselves online where people don't feel like they have to answer to anyone.

Sci-fi would have it that one day our technology will become sentient and turn against us in revenge for the years of being treated like the inanimate objects we all thought they were. If we can't even be decent to one another now while the tech is behaving itself, what hope do we have against the gadgets?