AT&T extends olive branch, will let all iPad orders before June 7 get $30 unlimited data plan
We'd previously heard some nasty rumors that Apple appeared to be delaying iPad shipments until June 7, ostensibly to prevent a bum rush of people grandfathering into AT&T's $30 unlimited dead-plan-walking. Whether that's really what was going on, we may never know -- but the carrier's making things right today by saying that it'll let anyone ordering an iPad prior to June 7 get in on the $30 plan whether they've received their unit or not (and let's be honest, if you order now, you're definitely not getting it by Monday). When asked for an exact cutoff time, AT&T told us that you can push it all the way to 11:59PM on the 6th, so procrastinate all you want, you... procrastinator, you.
C'mon guys -- you know what time it is. It's WWDC 2010 time, and we'll be there liveblogging the hell out of the opening keynote where Steve Jobs will maybe-kinda-sorta introduce some crazy new phone. Or not. You never know. That's why you have to tune in! Below is all the information you'll need to track the best live coverage on the internet -- starting bright and early on Monday morning. Don't miss this -- it's going to be epic.
Here's the info:
The keynote will start at 10AM PT on Monday, June 7th. Here's the URL that you'll want to be planted at for the proceedings, and below is a handful of timezone information, just in case you hate doing the math.
07:00AM - Hawaii 10:00AM - Pacific 11:00AM - Mountain 12:00PM - Central 01:00PM - Eastern 06:00PM - London 07:00PM - Paris 09:00PM - Moscow 03:00AM - Tokyo (June 8th)
You might imagine that we're getting a pretty wild variety of EVO 4G-related tips today, seeing how it's launch day and all -- but a couple really stood out for us:
Sprint's activation system is apparently buckling under the pressure, an issue that's giving us nightmarish flashbacks to iPhone launches of days gone by. We've even heard reports of poor shoppers being "turned away" when reps are stymied by the situation. A wildly successful product is both a blessing and curse, is it not?
We've gotten multiple tips saying that Radio Shack now lists a $400 early termination fee in its contract for the iPhone on Verizon and Sprint. Our guess is that this is just some generic verbiage, not a sign of an impending CDMA launch, but you never know.
Keep us updated with your launch day travails, folks!
We've already seen Audi show off a car-to-traffic light communication system, but the automaker has stepped things up considerably with a recent demonstration of its new Travolution system, which not only lets cars communicate with traffic lights, but other cars as well. The basic idea is the same as before: to cut down on pollution and fuel-consumption by reducing idling at stop lights and, in some cases, the need to stop at all. To do that, the system relies on a combination of WiFi and 3G, which currently lets Audi's 15 test cars communicate with some 150 traffic lights in Ingolstadt, Germany -- and with each other to further avoid accidents. What's more, the system can now also even take control of the vehicles in some instances to prevent them from running a red light, and it will give drivers a heads up about the status of upcoming traffic lights -- saying, for instance, if the next light will be red or green if you continue at your current speed. As if that wasn't enough, the system also helps keep track of traffic jams, and Audi has even thrown in online payment at gas stations and parking garages for good measure. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
Believe it or not, DigiLife has actually been cranking out wares in the consumer electronics space for awhile now. Trouble is, there aren't too many people that seem to care here in the States. All that has a chance to change at IFA this Fall, as that's where DigiLife will be revealing a price and ship date for its impending I-One e-reader / projector hybrid device. Shown this week at Computex for the first time, the multifaceted slate is billed as an e-book reader, with WiFi, a 10.4-inch LCD display and a rather sharp looking design to go along with it. But unlike every other alternative out there, this one actually has an integrated projector and multimedia player, though it's difficult to say what the final resolution will be (we're betting on VGA at best). Betcha never thought to project the person you're video chatting with upside the wall, did you? On second thought, don't answer that.
Leave it to Panasonic to yet again stake claim on a "world's" achievement that generally isn't on our radar. The company is again claiming it offers the world's lightest HD camcorder, this time the HDC-TM35, sporting 1080i recording and hybrid image stabilization that allows you to "vigorously shake the rock" according to the infallibly auto-translated press release. It weighs just 185g, about the same as a BlackBerry Storm2 and 42 grams lighter than it's predecessor, the HDC-TM30. According to that release, the cam intended for a female audience, who hopefully like white, violet, gold, or gray (shown after the break). Storage is to SDXC and videos are recorded in AVCHD format, which should give you plenty of room on that card to keep on filming until your arm gets tired. Panasonic isn't announcing an official price, but it'll be hitting Japanese boutiques on July 1.
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Acer may have announced its new Aspire Ethos line a few months back, but this is the first time we have had the chance to catch a glimpse of the multimedia monsters in person, albeit these were lacking that special Ethos branding on the exterior. We've really got to hand it to Acer on the new aesthetic of the 18.4-inch 8943G and 15.6-inch 5943G -- the systems have a nice brushed metal coating and glorious-looking chiclet keyboards. Though obviously, the first thing that caught our eye was that black dual-mode touchpad which is pictured above -- it's a standard touchpad until you press the circular button between the buttons, after which it turns into the system's multimedia controls. When we tapped that movie button, it briskly launched Windows Media player, but we do fear that the glossy plastic coating on the pad will hamper everyday navigation. Both models on display were powered by 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM CPUs, but the 5943G had 4GB of DDR3 RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics while the 8943G boasted 8GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 5850. In addition, they've got 8-cell batteries and Blu-ray drives, so three cheers for that. We'll be keeping an ear out for the arrival of these bad boys stateside, but until then feast your eyes on the beauty shots below.
If you live in a constant (and expensive) state of being way ahead of the curve, you're already pining to get yourself a 3D camcorder and, as we reported last week, Aiptek's i2 will do your budget the least harm. Now we have word that formal release for the US happens in August and it'll be cheaper here than expected: $200. For that you get a device that can record 720p video in stereo and play it back on the integrated parallax barrier 3D LCD, which our intrepid reporter Andy Yang said looks awful thanks to a very small sweet spot that must be perfectly positioned in relation to your eye holes. Thankfully, things should look much better when piped out over HDMI to that 3D HDTV of yours -- first in the neighborhood, of course.
If you've been near Astor Place in Manhattan lately you might've noticed the absolutely stunning bit of architecture that comprises the new Cooper Union building, and we had a visit the other day to check out a few end-of-year projects by students. One that particularly caught our eye was the competitive Chem-E-Car, from a team lead by Anthony Tantuccio. The team won the national competition in 2007, is advancing to nationals again this year, and has sunk quite a bit of tech into its vehicle. At the competition the contestants are given a distance and a payload on the spot and given an hour to prep their vehicle -- through the tweaking of gears and the shuffling of chemical reactions -- to hit that distance. Follow after the break to see how they do with about 15 minutes to work out some Engadget-prepped figures.
If you're shooting with movie cameras (or HD-enabled DSLRs like the Canon 5DMkII), being able to make your adjustments digitally is "epic" (or so says Engadget Show Producer Chad Mumm, who just declared this particular hardware "awesome"). The fStop Wireless Receiver is an affordable WiFi receiver that's compatible with most remote focus systems (common in the world of professional cinematography). Featuring multiple wireless channels and integration with the WirelessIris iPhone app, this bad boy will have you fussing with your camera's controls from your spacious (and convenient) Apple touchscreen device in no time! That is, once you shell out $1,389 (or find a friend with very deep pockets). Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Videos after the break.
We already had the opportunity to sit down and tinker with a slew of Pixel Qi-based prototype devices here in Taipei, but one in particular managed to catch our eye in a rather surprising location. Innoversal, a new company here in Taiwan just looking to change the world, found itself hosting a striking 10.1-inch device that grabbed our heartstrings and wouldn't let go. The highlight of the starlet was the expansive 3Qi capacitive touchpanel, with a 1,024 x 600 resolution and the ability to save battery life by flipping the backlight off when in broad daylight. The current build was relying on a trio of ambient light sensors to determine whether or not the backlight would be on, but we begged and pleaded for the company to implement a dedicated on / off toggle switch along the border before shipping it out. Speaking of which, Innoversal will most likely ship the product under its own branding here in Taiwan, but it's certainly open to selling the design to other major manufacturers who may wish to slap their own logo on there. If all goes well, we could see it first take off this September (globally), with a 16GB + 3G / WiFi model retailing for between $530 and $550.
So, what's that get you? Besides the best power-saving mobile display this world has ever seen (seriously, the crispness and viewing angles were extraordinary), you'll also get a 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, an integrated SSD (16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities will be available), an SDHC card slot, 8 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, a SIM card slot (for 3G data), USB 2.0 connectivity, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and a 6-cell (5,300mAh) battery to boot. We were told that the device will support Windows 7, Android, Ubuntu and Chrome OS, with the former two being on display at the show. The working mockup that was on display was sufficiently lightweight and sturdy, and we'd be fibbing to ourselves if we said we weren't giddy about the prospect of holding a finalized unit before Old Man Winter comes to visit. Hop on past the break for a video overview... or else.
Always thought the iPad should've really just been an enlarged iPhone? No, seriously -- like an iPhone after one of those "Honey, I Blew Up the Kids" incidents? Well, iiView is bringing just that to market this month, except its M1Touch runs Windows 7 Premium and packs an Intel Atom N450 processor along with 2GB of RAM. It also has a 250GB hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel cam on its left bezel. We finally got to see the tablet up close and personal -- it's been under lock and key in the Microsoft booth all week -- and it's pretty much the biggest iPhone you've ever seen. The capacitive touchscreen was fairly responsive, though there was a noticeable lag in opening programs. We're told it also has an accelerometer and that the familiar circular button on the right bezel will bring you back to the desktop, but both were disabled on the display model. Around the edges you'll spot a trio of ports, a SIM slot, a mini HDMI output and a microphone jack. As for the actual feel of this thing, it's pretty thick from the sides and weighs 1.5 pounds. Chances are that you stopped reading this post a few minutes ago and started clicking through the gallery to see shots of bugger alongside a normal iPhone, but we'd encourage you to also peek the video waiting just past the break. Oh, and if you'd like to give your iPhone an inferiority complex, you can always head on over to that source link and order one of these for $499.
According to DigiTimes, processor vendor AMD isn't terribly concerned about powering the next iPad or even a would-be assassin; the company's still waiting to see if the tablet market even takes off. The silicon firm will still work on desktop PC products and graphics cards, but is currently focused on graphically potent ultraportables; according to the publication, they're also not terribly interested in following in competitor Intel's smartphone footsteps. Of course, that's the same basic thing AMD execs said in 2008, right before Intel ate their lunch. We reached out to a company spokesperson this afternoon, and received the following statement:
Our current generation of notebook platforms has not been designed for tablets. Our focus continues to be on ultrathin and mainstream notebooks which address the vast majority of the PC market opportunity.
One of Toshiba's favorite hobbies is to tease the general public with prototypeautostereoscopictechnology, and that's exactly what we have here today; demoed at SID 2010, this screen can display 2D and 3D images simultaneously on the same 12-inch screen, no glasses required. How it does that is rather complicated, especially when translated from the Japanese, but it sounds like Toshiba's sandwiched a special panel with gradient-index lenses between a high-speed polarizer and the typical color LCD. We'd wager good money it's not coming to a store near you, but we'll keep an eye out for future developments. These days, they have a tendency to pop right out of the screen.
Even though school's just getting out in most places around the world, the bulk of companies start announcing their back to school laptops just about... now! And we'd bet you that this 10-inch Mini Classmate netbook (the final name is still TBD) is what HP has in store for the kiddies come this fall. Unlike the Mini 5102, which has previously aimed at the younger set, this here netbook is quite chunky and reminds us of the original Intel Classmate PC -- it's made entirely of plastic and has a handle on its back. The one on display was covered in a pretty unattractive marshmallow-ish white, but our wildest fantasies have HP offering it in a slew of colors. Other than that, it boasted a grey-colored chiclet keyboard, was running SuSE Linux 11 -- it was actually on display at the Novell booth -- and had an Intel Atom processor. That's all we know for now, though we're assuming there are a bunch of child-proof features that aren't evident to the naked eye. Head on past the break for a brief hands-on video of this heretofore unannounced mini machine.
Conflipper is a regularintheunderworld of HTC ROM cooking. So when he tweets about unreleased devices and their respective carrier support you really outta listen. First up is the HTC Scorpion (aka, Olympian) which he claims is going to Verizon and Bell Mobility -- a device previously rumored to be packing Froyo with WiMax and a 1.5GHz Snapdragon whipped topping. Conflipper also claims to have the inside scoop on a quartet of Windows Phone 7 devices and their respective North American launch partners: the HTC Spark_W (Bell Mobility and Verizon), HTC Gold_W (Sprint), HTC Shubert (Telus), and the HTC Mondrian (Telus, Rogers and AT&T). Note that the "_W" in those handsets signifies a worldphone device with dual-mode CDMA and GSM radios. And in the immortal words of Klaus Meine, "Time, it needs time." So true.
Remember how we said Qik was going to rock your world (and your credit card) with its premium-tier offerings for the Evo 4G? Well, as promised, June 4 is here and we now know exactly what you'll be getting for your extra $5 a month. The full table of goodies is after the break, but highlights include video conferencing at resolutions greater than 640 x 480, unlimited archiving of video, the ability to send video mail, and of course "priority support" should you have a problem handling the Qikening. The updated version of the app, demonstrated in a video below, is available today for the Evo 4G and users can get a taste of those sweet, exclusive features for free until July 15. After that, it's time to pay up or take the trip back to VGA Chatsville. Don't have an Evo? There's also a new version of Qik in the Market for lesser Android smartphones, but video chat is still not on offer.
And the mess gets messier. A class action lawsuit filed against Google in Oregon has now been enriched with the allegation that Google willfully collected personal data with its Street View cars, rather than doing so accidentally, as it claims. It's a bold accusation, whose primary basis is a patent application, filed by Google in November 2008, for a "computer-implemented method of estimating the location of a wireless device." A subsidiary claim references the "obtaining [of] one or more packets of data transmitted" from one wireless device to another to help estimate accuracy of location results. That's the supposedly damning verbiage that shows Google intentionally created WiFi-snooping software, and it's also what's being relied on to show that Mountain View couldn't have been ignorant of the data collection going on. Yes, it's quite a stretch, but that's what lawyers are for: mental gymnastics.
Over in Europe, Google is doing its best to placate local regulators, some of whom are contemplating criminal charges against the multinational company, by agreeing to hand over all data that was collected by its vehicles. France, Germany and Spain will be first to peruse the info, though presumably there'll be an open door to other nosy governments as well. Doesn't that strike you as weird -- having your private data protected by letting a bunch more people look at it?
Well, isn't this typical ASUS. Yet another Eee Pad, or this time an 'EPad' as the placard says, has shown up on the Computex show floor. While the company introduced two Eee Pads at its press conference earlier this week -- the 10-inch EP101TC with NVIDIA Tegra 2 / Windows Embedded Compact 7 and the 12-inch EP121 with Intel / Windows 7 -- this new 10-inch version has popped up running Windows 7 at the Intel booth. We'd be lying if we said we knew what was going on here, but to us it looks like ASUS shot out a working Windows 7 model -- perhaps just to have a functioning device to display on the show floor. There's no telling if it's being powered by Intel's Atom Moorestown platform or a current Menlow Z Series CPU, but the design looks very similar to that of the EP101TC. We've sent off an inquriy to ASUS' PR team, but you'll still want to check out the video after the break of a very slim slate and real live "booth babe."
Permalink | CarryPad, jkkmobile | Email this | Comments Read More ...Word of HTC Evo 4G storage bug couldn't come at a worse time If you read our review of HTC's awe-inspiring Evo 4G, you might have noticed that we recommended ditching the paltry stock 8GB microSD card and living large by throwing in a 32GB model. We were being a wee bit facetious, but as it turns out the advice was well-founded. We're seeing reports flung far and wide across these great united internets about errors regarding "insufficient file permissions" when attempting to write to that packed-in card, others finding that the phone will simply fail to read the card altogether. Our first suspicion was bogus flash, like the counterfeit ones that plagued the Chumby, but HTC spokesman Keith Nowak indicated they have identified the cause and there's an OTA fix coming "very shortly." We know it's early, and apparently not too many of you have rolled out of bed yet to get your Evo today, but sound off in comments if you're seeing this issue as well. Meanwhile, we're trying to replicate it on ours.
Update: Well, that was quick. Dre wrote in to tell us of a 13MB OTA update being pushed already, version 1.32.651.6, that looks to include a number of fixes including, apparently, a solution for this storage bug. We're hearing it also breaks the root path that dropped yesterday, but it sounds like a decent trade-off for now.
The world's first iPad inflight entertainment system definitely came sooner than we thought; though Bluebox just announced the idea two weeks ago, it's slated to hit Australia at the end of the month. Qantas budget carrier Jetstar Airways will hold a trial of the service in the last two weeks of June, doling out iPads to passengers on flights 90 minutes or greater for AUD $10 (approximately $8.40) a pop, and will extend the service to their entire network if the business... well, you know. Since Jetstar CIO Stephen Tame famously predicted the iPad would kill the inflight movie business earlier this year, it seems we're looking at a classic case of if-you-can't-beat-em syndrome. Call us biased, but that sounds a good sight better than what Microsoft's up to.
Speedy browser aside, the Archos 5 Internet Tablet started as the runt of the Android litter, but the ugly duckling is headed towards swanhood -- while officially, it's still stuck with Android 1.6, the tablet's French manufacturer has just transformed the media machine into what looks like a stellar Android game system as well. Archos' 2.0.15 update gives the Archos 5 support for OpenGL, letting it run games like Speed Forge 3D and Racing Thunder II at a fantastic clip. Best of all, you won't have to wait two shakes to test it out for yourself; there's a 89MB download with your name on it at our source link. Video after the break.
Who needs a backlit keyboard when you have a backlit touchpad? Okay, that's really a rhetorical question, but Gateway's newest 13.3-inch EC339C and 14-inch ID49C08u do in fact have glowing blue touchpads. The pad itself only lights up when you put your finger to it, and like HP's ClickPads have integrated mouse buttons. The rest of the thin and light machines are equally as impressive -- they have nabbed Acer's chiclet style keyboard and have that dedicated social networking key that Gateway seems to be adding to many of its systems. The key, which may very well have the cutest logo of all time stamped upon it, launched a social networking widget that allows for adding Facebook, YouTube and Flickr feeds to a timeline. Internally, the EC39C packs a Core i5 ULV processor and NVIDIA Optimus for switching between the GeForce 310 GPU and Intel's integrated HD graphics. The ID49C08u has a standard voltage Core i5, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and an onboard optical drive. Your guess is as good as ours about availability and pricing, but we did grab you some nice hands-on shots and a video of that crazy touchpad after the break.
For Sven Killig, running Android 2.2 wasn't enough. No sir, this dude wanted even more power for his Nexus One, so he went ahead and penned a few lines of code that have allowed his Googlephone to act as a USB host. As a result, he can now do cutting edge stuff like plugging in USB keyboards and webcams, as well as more useful things like watching movies off USB sticks or connecting to a monitor via a DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter. All these features are demonstrated in the video after the break, and you'll find the downloadable binaries at the source -- Sven expects them to work on Android 2.1 as well.
In its day, the HTC Hero with its brand new Sense UI and browser with Flash Lite was a breakthrough, multitouch Android handset. As such, it quickly became a big seller for HTC and the carriers that sold it. Now one year later, owners of the GSM variant are still waiting for their chance at the latest Android 2.1 update. As a harbinger of things to come (we hope), the Hero 2.1 update just landed in HTC's home country of Taiwan. Unfortunately, this will likely be the last update Hero owners receive... via official channels, anyway.
You've had the day circled on your calendar for nearly a month, you've seen its insides, you've seen it rooted, and you've even witnessed Froyo running on its massive 4.3-inch screen. Now the time has finally come to actually ownthe EVO. As is our time-honored tradition with galactically significant product launches, we're starting up a little photo essay here showing the progression of lines outside Sprint stores through this most auspicious of days. Only the trick here is that you'll be doing our writing for us, a thousand words at a time. Join us after the break for the pictures and don't forget -- a lot of stores will be opening early to sate demand.
Samsung's interstellar voyage with Android has just begun, it seems -- after a host of smartphones and a freshly announced tablet, it looks like the OS will cameo in a new Yepp PMP. The YP-MB2 was recently spotted in the databases of the Bluetooth SIG, where it's described as "a multi functional Mobile Internet Device" with GPS, Wi-Fi, TouchWiz 3.0 and a huge four-inch AMOLED touchscreen. Digging deeper into the technical documents, we can see it's got Android as well -- oh, and Bluetooth, of course. As the geographic availability section reads "Asia" and the unit's "MB" designation typically means South Korea's T-DMB, we don't expect to ever see it stateside, but when the device surfaces next you can probably expect it to look like a larger one of these.
Well, this is just great timing. What we're looking at here is supposedly a Sony Ericsson smartphone, which seems to sport a five-inch screen and a hinged slide-out keyboard like the HTC Shift and the Eking S515. Even if this prototype turns out to be legit, our tipster -- who has a solid track record -- says it's only running on Android 2.1 and that development is in its infancy while low-level drivers are being tested. Well, we can probably wait, except we're also told that internally SE doesn't appear to have any plans for 2.2 yet. Cue the angry tomatoes and eggs, but bring us a PSP phone any day and we'll call off the rally.
Update: We've received word from a second highly-trusted source who says that the display is 5.5 inches (too big to fit in the front pocket), and runs a clean Android 2.1 install. Oh, and it's launching in the fall.
28diggsdigg It's here! The Evo 4G is now on sale at Sprint's online webstore. The dual-mode 3G/4G handset with 4.3-inch display, 8 megapixel camera, two-way video calling, and personal WiFi hotspot feature all powered by Android 2.1 on a 1GHz Snapdragon is now for sale for $199 on two year contract (after $150 instant savings and $100 mail-in rebate). Oh, sales are limited to five per customer just in case you're planning to go nuts. Now get out of here, the future is waiting.
This is going to be a wild one, folks -- the podcast crew is spread across the country and we've got Darren and Joanna live at Computex in Taiwan, so we're doing this one late-night style. Just call it Wake Up Europe with Josh, Paul, and Nilay. Buckle up and get cozy in the chat below, we'll see you at 12AM EST!
P.S.- And hey, don't forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone apps if you're out and about and can't join in on the Flash-based fun below.
Update: And it's over! That was truly a wild one -- don't worry if you missed it, the regular post will be up tomorrow, all squeaky clean and with non-international VoIP audio.
Another small mystery, solved. We caught a glimpse of Huawei's relatively undercover S7 tablet back in March, but little was known about what would actually power the device and what operating system would be pre-installed. Here at Computex, we learned the facts on both of those points. Sitting pretty at Qualcomm's booth, the S7 was shown boasting a 1GHz MSM8250 Snapdragon processor, and our hunting around in the settings confirmed that Android 2.1 was loaded onboard. The Qualcomm reps didn't have any other hard specifications available on the 7-incher (beyond those that we already knew), but we were able to spot a volume rocker, internal speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot, USB connector and a fancy kickstand around back for sitting a spell and watching multimedia. During our time with the device, we instantly fell in love with the depressible side buttons, and the capacitive resistive touchscreen was as responsive as they come. The whole thing felt speedy and light enough for our liking, and frankly, it was easily one of our favorite tablets at the entire show. We're still no closer to nailing down a price or release date, but at least you now know it's worth your while to keep an eye out for both. Vid's after the break.
Taiwan may be a comparatively small place, but it's well known for a few things: incredible eats, incredible technology, and the best Little League World Series teams this planet has ever seen. We're experiencing the best of those first two this week at Computex, and since we were all the way over on the other side of the planet, we couldn't help but stop by the Windows 7-themed eatery that opened up for just a couple of months surrounding the nation's only hosted consumer electronics show of this magnitude. The place, as we were told by the one and only Andy Yang from Engadget Chinese, is Taiwanese through and though. It typically goes by 100 Seafood, but for a couple of months it has been transformed into a 64-bit dining location with Windows 7 wallpaper, stickers, banners, and even mugs. Each day there's a special menu item that sells for just NT$77 (around $2.38 in the US), but considering that said special was some form of intestines on the evening that we showed up, Engadget and company sprung for dishes with a bit less relation to the digestive system. In all seriousness, the grub hit the spot after a long day on the trade show floor, and the take-home mugs for us media folk made the journey even more worthwhile. Now, to see if the lid closes over if we don't activate the thing in 30 days...
Take a trip to this magical place yourself in the galleries below, or do one even better and jump past the break for a video!
We're glad you're using a bike helmet (and we're glad you've opted for that really scary one we first saw in 2007). You do realize, however, that the more blows to the head you receive, the less effective the headgear is, right? Researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute have developed a manufacturing process that injects microcapsules containing malodorous oils into the helmet itself, causing it to stink when damaged -- alerting you that it's time to replace it (and making it difficult to try and make do with a less than safe one, at that). Indeed, the process, which a thick foil made of polypropylene to house the microcapsules, extends to other products as well, including: pressure hoses, water, and gas pipes (in which case the odor can be detected by automated "smell sensors"). As for the lids, they're still trying to decide exactly which scent to use, but we have a suggestion -- smelling salts. Seems logical, right?
18diggsdigg This isn't so much news as it is a public service announcement: even in markets where iPhone tethering has launched, you've never been able to use it to connect to an iPad, and you won't be able to when AT&T flips the switch on tethering with the release of OS 4. That's clearly not AT&T's fault, it's Apple's -- the iPhone inexplicably supports only USB and Bluetooth for sharing its internet connection, even though jailbroken apps like MyWi prove that a WiFi connection is totally doable and countless other handsets already support WiFi routing. And iPad doesn't support using another device as a Bluetooth modem, either. And as long as you're paying the tethering fee, there's no reason why AT&T wouldn't want you tethering the iPad; you'll certainly be able to do it with any phone in AT&T's lineup that can create a WiFi hotspot, after all, and we're sure they'd be happy to take your overage cash once you hit 2GB regardless of the device you're using to gobble the data.
In the meantime, you know what you can tether to an iPad? A phone running Froyo, for one -- Google was certainly happy to show off that capability back at IO. Or pretty much any device running S60 from the last several years. Or a Palm Pre Plus... yeah, you get the idea.
Modu reminds us a bit of Neonode back in the day -- their products are virtually impossible to find and you don't hear about them terribly often, but when you do, it's almost always interesting news. We'd heard last year that the company would be following its first model with a touch-centric device, and TheGadgetSpot seems to have the straight dope on the new unit, said to be called "T-Phone" with a full touchscreen and a 3G radio. They don't have a date, but it seems Modu is looking at a retail price between $400 and $500 -- hopefully unsubsidized, and hopefully targeting a wider launch than the first time around.
[Thanks, Itai]
Update: Zach from Know Your Cell has pinged us to let us know that the T-Phone is definitely real -- it's pictured on Modu's site and is claimed to be the lightest touchscreen phone in the world (with a Guinness certification to back it up). It'll apparently have 2GB of internal storage along with microSD expansion and will be available both in 2G and 3G models, presumably for different parts of the world. No release date yet, unfortunately.
One of the more interesting exchanges at D8 actually happened across two days as both Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer were asked about the future of PCs: Jobs compared traditional computers and tablets to cars and trucks by saying most people will eventually only need tablets while some would still need the added utility of a PC, and Ballmer responded directly by saying, "Well, there may be a reason why they call them 'Mac' trucks!" Ballmer snap. When it comes right down to it, though, both CEOs expressed relatively similar visions about the prevalence and importance of multiple computing form factors in the future and mostly differed on semantics -- Ballmer came right out and said he thinks the iPad is actually a PC, and we're pretty sure Jobs thinks it... isn't. Check our edited video after the break to watch these two go at it across space and time, and then check our Ballmer liveblog / video highlights and Jobs liveblog / video highlights for more.
Steve Ballmer didn't say too much at D8 that we haven't heard him or others at Microsoft say in the past, but he's always an entertaining and interesting interview, and All Things Digital is upping the videos of Walt's session with Steve and Ray Ozzie now. Up first is a clip of Steve talking about how Microsoft is getting back into the mobile game and how RIM and Nokia are still formidable competitors, followed by Ray and Steve riffing on the potential of the cloud and how things can get even better for Microsoft. We'll add more as D's video people get them up -- check back!
Permalink | All Things Digital (1), (2) | Email this | Comments Read More ...HP says it's in the smartphone market, after all HP CEO Mark Hurd certainly caused a few sad faces yesterday when he told investors and analysts that HP "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business," and now the company is trying to walk that back a little -- rest easy, folks, because there are definitely more webOS smartphones on the way. Apparently what Hurd was really trying to say was that HP is excited about using webOS as the foundation for all types of smaller web-connected devices, and smartphones are just a part of that universe -- a part HP intends to pursue. Phew. Now, can we see these new webOS devices, please? Here's the full statement from HP:
When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP's small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS's footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones.
Need a bit more evidence that Apple has some new Mac minis on the way? Then look no further than Apple Insider, which says that it has "verified four times over" that current Mac mini supplies are running dry, and that new models are all but a certainty. Adding further weight to the story is the fact that these aren't simply reports of delays here and there, but reports from large buyers like educational institutions who say that they've either been advised not to place bulk orders for Mac minis or had their orders pushed back -- in one case to an exact date of June 14th. Needless to say, that all seems to line up nicely, and sounds more than a little familiar. Maybe too familiar?
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If you read our review of HTC's awe-inspiring Evo 4G, you might have noticed that we recommended ditching the paltry stock 8GB microSD card and living large by throwing in a 32GB model. We were being a wee bit facetious, but as it turns out the advice was well-founded. We're seeing reports flung far and wide across these great united internets about errors regarding "insufficient file permissions" when attempting to write to that packed-in card, others finding that the phone will simply fail to read the card altogether. Our first suspicion was bogus flash, like the counterfeit ones that plagued the Chumby, but HTC spokesman Keith Nowak indicated they have identified the cause and there's an OTA fix coming "very shortly." We know it's early, and apparently not too many of you have rolled out of bed yet to get your Evo today, but sound off in comments if you're seeing this issue as well. Meanwhile, we're trying to replicate it on ours.
HP CEO Mark Hurd certainly caused a few sad faces yesterday when he told investors and analysts that HP "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business," and now the company is trying to walk that back a little -- rest easy, folks, because there are definitely more webOS smartphones on the way. Apparently what Hurd was really trying to say was that HP is excited about using webOS as the foundation for all types of smaller web-connected devices, and smartphones are just a part of that universe -- a part HP intends to pursue. Phew. Now, can we see these new webOS devices, please? Here's the full statement from HP:
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