Viral Video: Daft Punk Rocking Out on Rosh Hashanah

It's Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and to celebrate it, here's a very fine video, "Get Clarity," from Aish.com. It is a cover of Daft Punk's hugely popular summer hit song, "Get Lucky," but with new lyrics and a shofar.

Enjoy, and Shana Tova:

Huawei Doesn't Want BlackBerry

Here's one company that BlackBerry need not consider as it works to narrow down the list of parties interested in buying all or part of its business: Huawei.

Asked if Huawei might consider acquiring BlackBerry or another handset maker to bolster that business, board member Chen Lifang said the company is simply not interested.

"No, we have not considered (an acquisition)," she told reporters in London, according to Reuters. "We want to rely on ourselves."

Which makes sense. Huawei has done very well for itself pursuing that strategy. Today, it's the third-largest manufacturer of smartphones by volume, after Samsung and Apple. And it has claimed that title by building devices for Google's Android operating system. So why would it bother with BlackBerry? It clearly doesn't need it, or the company's new BlackBerry 10 platform, which seems to have lost its bid for third place in the smartphone OS wars to Microsoft.

As Lifang said, "In manufacturing mobile phones, we have made very good progress."

Barra Takes Center Stage at Xiaomi Product Launch

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi Inc. has become famous in China because of its blowout product releases, and Thursday's introduction of the company's new smartphone and smart television didn't disappoint.

Amid a carnival-like atmosphere, the phone company's devoted fans - some adorned with glow sticks - overflowed into the aisles as Xiaomi founder and Chief Executive Lei Jun described in detail the specs of the company's two new products to peals of applause.

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LG G2 Coming to T-Mobile, Verizon This Month

LG's newest flagship device finally has a U.S. release date - two, actually. Verizon will be the first to offer the LG G2 when it goes on sale Sept. 12 for $200 with a two-year contract. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is taking preorders for the smartphone today, with expected availability on Sept. 18. The cost is $100 down and 24 equal payments of $21. Introduced in August, the G2 is LG's latest effort to make a dent in the U.S. market; it features a 5.2-inch HD touchscreen and 13-megapixel camera. AT&T and Sprint are also expected to offer the device.

On Chrome Web Store, Real Games Mix With Mario Knockoffs

We've heard it over and over again (and arguably for good reason): Nintendo does not make games for platforms it does not control. So, imagine my surprise yesterday when I stumbled across a dozen or so Mario games on Google's Chrome Web Store.

These games are no more real than that Rolex you bought for $15 in Times Square - they're unlicensed, generally low-quality knockoffs, taking advantage of the openness of Google's browser, which just turned five. Many of the store's new native desktop apps look like snazzy cousins of the apps you might find in the Google Play Store on Android; however, in Chrome's Web app store (I know, these product names are all confusing), it's still the Wild West.

In addition to the fake Marios, a cursory search of the Web app store yesterday turned up knockoffs of many other popular franchises: one for Fruit Ninja, two for Crash Bandicoot, four for Doodle Jump, nine for Candy Crush Saga and 10 for Sonic the Hedgehog. A source with knowledge of the store said Google investigates unauthorized apps if the content owners report the offending apps to the company.

These fakes mix with real apps, like Rovio's official Angry Birds Chrome Web app, and to separate the good from the bad, users have to check the developer's website name. For example, one of the Candy Crush Saga knockoffs lists as its website candycrushsaga.blogspot.com, which is not one of King's sites. The official site for that game is candycrushsaga.com.

I asked a Nintendo spokesperson if the company was aware of the Mario knockoffs, and she returned the following generic statement from Nintendo of America:

Nintendo video games are offered only on Nintendo systems such as the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Applications on the Apple or Google marketplaces that purport to be Nintendo video games are not legitimate and users who download these applications may expose themselves to spyware or other malicious software [...]

Wait, malicious software? Yes, it's possible, as 80,000 users learned last year by way of a fake Bad Piggies Chrome app. According to security company Barracuda Networks, that's the number of users who installed a bogus Bad Piggies and got some "aggressive adware" to boot. Bonus!

The Nintendo statement continued, "Nintendo actively monitors the unauthorized use of its intellectual property, and will continue to seek removal of any unauthorized content in these marketplaces."

Taking these specific games out of the Chrome store won't completely neutralize potential security threats posed by current or future games, of course. But the very thing that makes the store work - a search, discovery and recommendation-focused design that makes these games and services more accessible to Chrome users - may mislead gamers who don't think to look too closely.

"We remove apps from the Chrome Web Store that do not comply with our terms of service," a Google spokesperson said. Some of the Mario games I mentioned in my emails to the company have now disappeared from the Chrome store, but here is a screenshot of how they were showing up for me in the store's main trending section yesterday.

Apple Won't Introduce New Apple TV Box Next Week, Will Upgrade Software

There are very, very good odds you're going to hear about new iPhones at Apple's event next Tuesday.

But if you're looking for a new Apple TV, you're going to be disappointed.

Despite speculation about new Apple TV hardware on the way, Apple won't be unveiling any new boxes next week, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

That said, the company will be tweaking the software inside its Web TV box. Apple has already said that it will be bringing its new iTunes Radio service to Apple TV. And it has been adding new content partners, including Disney and HBO, throughout the summer.

Expect to hear about more changes next week.

Sources said that one new feature in the works will let people who've bought content from Apple play that stuff on other users' Apple TVs, via Apple's Airplay system and Apple's server. So if you bought a TV show or movie from Apple's iTunes store, you could watch it at a friend's house by calling it up on your iPhone and telling your friend's Apple TV to start streaming it. (The files wouldn't need to be stored on your iPhone or iPad)

You could have previously accomplished this by getting your friend to log out of their Apple TV box and then logging in with your own credentials. But that's awfully cumbersome - particularly with Apple's minimalist Apple TV remote. And you can already do a variation on this, though not as elegantly, with some Apple TV apps like HBO Go.

But if this makes it that much easier to watch "Pain and Gain" with your pals, then that's a good thing. And if that makes you less inclined to buy a $35 Google Chromecast and treat that as your Web TV device, then that's good for Apple.

No comment from Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr.

Google Merges European Operations To Square Up To Regulators And Rivals