Technology News

After three short days on the shelf, Virgin Mobile's LG Optimus Elite is already up for a promotion: Google will credit your Google Wallet account with $25 when you activate the NFC-service within 7 days of activating your Elite. LG's Gingerbread-powered Optimus Elite is the prepaid carrier's first NFC-capable device, and Virgin isn't wasting any time putting the service to good use. The offer is good on any of Virgin's Beyond Talk plans, and will run from now through July 18, though there is a bit of fine print: your account will be credited with $10 within the first three days, with the remaining $15 eventually added within the following three weeks. Regardless, for $150 without a contract, the Elite is already a pretty sweet deal, and with another $25 thrown in for good measure, we're tempted to say adios to contracts forever.

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Judging by many of the headlines on Friday, you might think that Facebook?s IPO was a miserable failure.  The Wall Street Journal declared, ?Facebook?s IPO Sputters,? and our very own TechCrunch declared that bankers were ?struggling? to keep the share price up. Nevermind that it was the highest ever IPO valuation and one of the largest sums of money ever raised by a U.S. company. According to the pundits, what really matters is that the stock price didn?t increase in value–or ?pop?–post IPO and is being propped up by banks. Taking bets on whether an IPO will ?pop? provides entertaining fodder to help pundits promote their interests, but it misses the point. This view represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and economics of an IPO. By the correct measures, the Facebook IPO was a resounding success. Let me explain why.

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At only nine-years-old, Martha Payne might be the next great food critic. The adorable girl from Argyll in Scotland reviews her daily school lunches on her blog with a Food-o-meter rating scale, considerations for hair and pictures galore. More »

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Samsung's teasing it on its Facebook page today, but the full advert's already leaked out on Twitter — David Beckham's doing his thing for Samsung and the Galaxy Note. Some folks in the forums have opined that we're looking at a "new" Galaxy Note (and indeed the "new Galaxy Note with "Premium Suite" upgrade" is mentioned, but it  more to us like Samsung's just promoting that "Premium Suite" upgrade that includes Ice Cream Sandwich and started pushing recently. The description on the teaser points to something going down May 22, so stay tuned. (Our guess: More with the Olympic torch, which Becks helped welcome to the UK today.)

We've got the teaser and the full video after the break. Check it out before it gets pulled.

Via AT&T Galaxy Note forums

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If you needed yet another reminder that you’re far from being a Lego master builder, check out ‘Sheepo’s’ mind-blowingly awesome 1:8.4-scale Land Rover Defender 110 built from over 2,800 pieces. It could probably endure an off-road adventure better than your compact car. More »

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Curious about how to burn through $2.5 billion in less than a year? Nokia might have some suggestions.

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Flickr announced a redesign recently, introducing larger onscreen displays for high-res images. The photo sharing site launched what it calls its “liquid layout,” stating that “Large sizes + Low compression = Beautiful photos.” Since Flickr uses less compression than many other image sharing sites, it claimed, the detail and color of Flickr photos is richer.

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Sulley as the Hulk and the Incredibles as Captain America and Black Widow? Wonderful. But seriously, mashing up Pixar characters with The Avengers is beautiful. J. M. Walter created this Pixar/Avengers combo and I’ve decided that it’d be the funnest superhero movie ever. Or best cartoon I’ve ever seen. [Cartoon Brew via Buzzfeed] More »

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Thursday’s LogicBUY Deal is the Sony MDR-RF4000K Wireless Headphones for $87.99.  This is the lowest price found by LogicBUY, and it’s up to $25 less than prices found in other stores. $109.99 – 20% coupon code = $87.99 with free shipping. This deal expires May 18, 2012 or sooner. Check the above link for more [...]

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There are a lot of iPhone accessories out there, but only a few of them are time tested and have an actual chance of making your iPhone photos look better. Here are the best, chosen by The Wirecutter.

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