Canonical hearts tablets, but it's not making a special Ubuntu for them Um, whoops! It seems as if those
earlier reports of Canonical crafting a special edition of
Ubuntu specifically for tablets may have stemmed from taking certain quotes out of context, as a new interview over at
Golem has confirmed that the company has no short-term plans to pursue that full-on tablet PC push that was so well hyped. It's a bit of a bummer, honestly, with far too few legitimate tablet operating systems on the horizon; Windows 7 just feels a grown man's OS, and there's no telling if
Windows Embedded Compact 7 will ever truly live up to its incredible potential. According to Mark Shuttleworth, though, the forthcoming Ubuntu Light will be distributed on a variety of systems, but the smallest it's really aiming for is netbooks. We get the feeling these guys will come around eventually, but for now it's on you to squeeze your favorite Linux build onto that
ginormous iPhone 3G tablet you've already got on pre-order.
Canonical hearts tablets, but it's not making a special Ubuntu for them originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Olympus cranks out two point and shoots: X560 WP and T100 Olympus has two new cams in the pipeline according to
Let's Go Digital. The waterproof Olympus X560 WP boasts a 10 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, face detection, a high ISO sensitivity, 18 shooting modes and digital image stabilization. The T100, meanwhile, is a starter camera that's apparently aimed at teens, and it's got a 12 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, and face detection. It also shoots VGA video. There's no word on pricing or availability for either yet.
Continue reading Olympus cranks out two point and shoots: X560 WP and T100
Olympus cranks out two point and shoots: X560 WP and T100 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Joby Gorillapod Focus and Ballhead X review No need for
magnets? Plenty of need for strength and flexibility? You're in the right place, bub.
Joby's been cranking out Gorillapods for eons now, and they've essentially set the standard for what a flexible, mobile tripod should be. What started as an easy way to compose timed shots from point and shoots quickly snowballed into an entire lineup of varied products (like the
Gorillatorch Flare, for instance), the latest of which involves holding cameras up to 11 pounds and pivoting them around with just a twist. Care to get our take on the
Ballhead X and its Focus companion? It's all just
a click away.
Continue reading Joby Gorillapod Focus and Ballhead X review
Joby Gorillapod Focus and Ballhead X review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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White HTC EVO 4G coming exclusively to Best Buy on July 11th, pre-orders start today Jumpin' Jehosaphat! Just when you thought America's first
4G phone couldn't get any hotter, along comes this: a striking white version of the
HTC EVO 4G (so much for that
unavailable white iPhone 4, eh?). We've received confirmation that this here handset will be sold exclusively through
Best Buy (as in, don't even bother heading to your local Sprint store), with the official launch date set for July 11th. We're told that Sprint will eventually gain access on August 8th, with other retailers snapping it up in September. If you somehow managed to hold off on snagging the existing black EVO 4G, you can get your pre-order in starting on June 18th -- yeah,
today, Junior! We're assuming the price will remain at $199.99 on a 2-year contract, but be sure to drop us a line if you wander in and find out otherwise.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
White HTC EVO 4G coming exclusively to Best Buy on July 11th, pre-orders start today originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rayqual adapters bring Leica, Nikon, and Canon lenses to Sony's NEX cameras Sony's new
NEX-3 and
NEX-5 cameras may have a few limitations when it comes to their UI, but it looks like they won't be hurting for lens options -- Japan's Rayqual has announced that it'll be offering a series of lens adapters for the cameras starting next month. Those will let you attach any number of Leica, Nikon or Canon lenses to the compact shooter, although you'll expectedly have to make do without autofocus if you decide to venture beyond Sony's own lenses for the cameras. They also won't come cheap, with the adapters set to run ¥19,950 to ¥25,200, or roughly $220 to $275 -- although that could be a small price to pay if you've already invested in some serious glass.
Rayqual adapters bring Leica, Nikon, and Canon lenses to Sony's NEX cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Razer Starcraft II and Xbox 360 peripherals hands-on Razer's meteoric rise from second-tier mouse maker to top-shelf peripheral guru has been nothing short of incredible, and its success has enabled it to start to focus a little more on the niche groups. Such is its latest addition: a keyboard, mouse, and headset designed just for RTS gamers, and specifically for
Starcraft II. We spent some time sampling their APM-enhancing abilities, and checked out the latest revision of the company's upcoming Xbox 360 Onza controller too. It's all after the break.
Continue reading Razer Starcraft II and Xbox 360 peripherals hands-on
Razer Starcraft II and Xbox 360 peripherals hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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JumpStart Dual USB charger sports an integrated rechargeable battery It's a sad fact of life, really. Regardless of where you go, you'll end up needing to recharge something in your carry-on. Just the mere thought of locating an AC adapter in that airport you're headed to is enough to give even the most hardened traveler a reason to think twice, and tracking down one of those inverters for your road trip is just about the last thing you'd like to be doing. DigiPower has just pushed out the solution to all of your problems, with the JumpStart Dual 2-in-1 battery / AC adapter offering the ability to juice up a pair of USB devices via the internal 1,700mAh rechargeable battery. Sadly for all of you
iPad owners, each port is only capable of rejuvenating 5V devices, but there's a status indicator, emergency flashlight and folding plugs for "easy transport." The company claims that this can be recharged over 500 times, after which you'll need to contact Sir Odor Blocker after the break for a pinch of
P-P-P-P-P-P-Power.
Continue reading JumpStart Dual USB charger sports an integrated rechargeable battery
JumpStart Dual USB charger sports an integrated rechargeable battery originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Casio's slim XJ-A projectors repurposed for gaming, we take a gander Casio's XJ-A series projectors
wowed us in January with an ultra-slim 43mm design, but at E3 2010 we got the chance to see whether image quality was equally bright -- the watchmaker was there with some economical models to attract the portable gaming crowd. Sure enough, it's an interesting choice if you want to play Xbox 360 in the field. Though hefty, the projector's small enough to fit into a messenger bag, and can throw a pretty decent-sized screen; using the company's 2,500 lumen, XJ-A240 model ($1,000), we emulated a 70-something-inch, 720p HDTV. At that size and resolution, colors were a little washed out, but impressive nonetheless -- though we did note that when attempting to play 1080p content on the same projector, the result was quite fuzzy.
Casio claims that image's good for 20,000 hours, as the projector doesn't use a bulb, relying instead on a proprietary combo of laser and LED. The PJ accepts all standard TV resolutions through VGA or HDMI and has optional composite and component video breakout cables, though sadly no audio passthrough -- only a 1W integrated speaker. Starting at $800, the true bargain models sport only 2,000 lumens and a 1,024 x 768 resolution, but we could still see some snapping them up for split-screen
Halo on a giant, portable TV.
Casio's slim XJ-A projectors repurposed for gaming, we take a gander originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Audi's Sound Concept cabin defines auditory excess: 62 speaker surround-sound If you've been bragging about your all-encompassing 7.2
surround-sound system to of your friends, prepare for a mighty dose of humble pie. Audi has hand-crafted what it calls the Sound Concept, an in-car sound system so excessive it should be able to cause your soft, fleshy bits to pulsate in new and exciting ways. There are five tweeters scattered across the dash and the doors, five woofers (four in the doors and a monster in the back), and then a whopping 52 mid-range speakers encircling the entire enclosure, creating a package that's not likely to show up in the options catalog anytime soon. All these have been wedged into the interior of a Q7 SUV in the interests of Wave Field Synthesis, minimizing a user's ability to hear specific speakers -- and blowing Audyssey's
paltry 11-speaker DSX system right out of the water.
Audi's Sound Concept cabin defines auditory excess: 62 speaker surround-sound originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Developer gets Sony's Remote Play working on non-VAIO machines Sony has been teasing its
Remote Play functionality to a few devices, including the
Aino and its
VAIO laptops, but if your possession of Sony gadgets doesn't extend beyond your home entertainment center you've been out of luck. Not any more, courtesy of a developer who goes by the handle NTAuthority, who has managed to get Remote Play to work on any machine -- any machine that can run Windows 7, at least. NTAuthority's patch allows Sony's VAIO Remote Play app to run on non-VAIOs, and from the reports we're seeing in forums it even works on a Windows VMware instance hosted on a Mac. That 400kb patch is on the other end of that source link below, so if you feel like giving it a shot it at least it won't take long to download.
Developer gets Sony's Remote Play working on non-VAIO machines originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK Choices, choices. Do you get the 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4? The black one now or the white one
a little later? We can't tell you which variant of Apple's next phone will hold its value best over the coming months, but we can try to clear up a bit of the fogginess surrounding price plans on offer from UK networks.
Orange and O2 are the first to drop handset pricing and full contract details, but they haven't made it easy for the discerning buyer, with each carrier offering more than a dozen options. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, and even Tesco Mobile are set to follow suit in the coming days and weeks, but we thought we'd get the ball rolling with the pair we have now.
P.S. -- And just as we publish this, Voda has gone official with
its tariffs. We've now broken them down into a more digestible format as well. Just for you.
Continue reading How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK
How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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eviGroup Paddle gets specced and splayed, now available from €599 This is far from the most flattering angle from which to view eviGroup's multitouch tablets, but it shows off an important facet of design -- should you buy the pricy
Paddle (pictured at left), you'll be able to swap the battery, memory and hard drive. Units ship today with yesteryear's netbook specs, including a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 160GB hard drive, 0.3 megapixel webcam and 1GB of RAM, but also the ports many tablets lack, including three USB jacks, VGA-out, an SD card slot and wired LAN. 802.11a/b/g WiFi comes standard while 3G connectivity costs an extra €150 (roughly $186), and if you'd rather not tinker with operating systems or hardware upgrades yourself, the factory will handle both for €50 ($62) and €79 ($98) respectively. The questions remaining are if the hardware can handle your applications -- and whether you're willing to pay
iPad-plus prices for a device with just three hours of estimated battery life. Video after the break, full specs at the source link.
Continue reading eviGroup Paddle gets specced and splayed, now available from €599
eviGroup Paddle gets specced and splayed, now available from €599 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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SteelSeries shows off ultra-durable Spectrum headset, we fail to rip it a new one (video) We're sure that
SteelSeries is mighty pleased with the audio quality of its brand-new Spectrum 5xb gaming headset, but company reps didn't introduce the product as such. They wanted us to walk away knowing three things, and the first was that we could
beat the living crap out of them. Right in front of our eyes a product designer twisted the headband a full 180 degrees, let it snap back into place, then started yanking hard on the braided nylon cord (video after the break) while a dumbfounded expression crossed our face. We tried the very same, but couldn't get the cord to budge. On the off-chance you don't care to test durability for yourself, the phones also
break into three pieces for transport.
While the second tenet of SteelSeries' presentation was comfort (and these circumaural cans are comfortable, to be sure), the third was a
prototype Xbox 360 device called the AudioMixer that will ship both bundled with the peripheral and separately as well. Plugging into your console and the base of a controller, the AudioMixer lets you connect a PC headset, then automatically balances voice chat and game audio using an on-board processor chip. There are individual volume dials, too, if you just need to shut that swearing ten-year old up. No price as yet, but both this Spectrum 5xb and a less feature-packed younger sibling will ship in Q3. Full press release and semi-destructive video after the break.
Continue reading SteelSeries shows off ultra-durable Spectrum headset, we fail to rip it a new one (video)
SteelSeries shows off ultra-durable Spectrum headset, we fail to rip it a new one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New Xbox 360 gets a proper teardown analysis: power and noise reductions confirmed Anyone can take a hammer and rib-spreader to a new piece of hardware. But it takes someone like
Anand Shimpi, the man behind
Anandtech who has personally suffered through four out-of-warranty Xbox 360 failures, to bring sage analysis to a
teardown of the new Xbox 360. His reluctant
sixth Xbox 360 is the
new slimster (codename
Valhalla) which, for the first time, combines the CPU, GPU, and eDRAM onto a single chip -- previous Xbox 360 motherboards featured two discrete packages that split the CPU from the ATI designed Xenos GPU and eDRAM. The design allows for a single heatsink to be cooled by a single, larger fan making the new Xbox "noticeably quieter," measured at 45dB when idle or 51dB with the 1.5Gbps SATA Hitachi HTS545025B9SA00 with 8MB buffer spinning at 5400RPM -- that's down from 50dB and 54dB, respectively, as measured on late 2008 through 2010 Jasper-class 360s. Regarding power consumption, Anand measured a 50% reduction from the original 2005 Xbox 360 (25% less than
Jasper-class rigs at idle, or 20% to 17% less under load) and pulled just 0.6W when "totally off" compared to the 2W of vampire power pulled by older 360s. Anand speculates that Microsoft might finally be using cheaper 40nm components. However, we shouldn't expect to see a price cut anytime soon as it will take Microsoft awhile to ramp up the material and manfucaturing cost savings. Regardless, with
Kinect and several new game titles on the horizon, Anand concludes that there's still pleny of life left in the old Xbox 360 platform for those looking to make the jump.
New Xbox 360 gets a proper teardown analysis: power and noise reductions confirmed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple's MobileMe Mail gets a refresh for some reason You still using (and paying $99 a year) MobileMe? So you haven't been lured away by Google's or Microsoft's free offerings then? Ok, then you'll probably notice that MobileMe looks a bit different today. Pictured above is the new MobileMe application switcher that now requires two clicks to do what previously took one (i.e., switch MobileMe applications). Looks pretty though. Mail is the biggest change with new widescreen (pictured above) and compact views, rules, single-click archiving, a formatting toolbar, and SSL all introduced in the beta last month. Huzzah?
P.S. Sadly, that's a screengrab from our actual MobileMe account. Somebody please remind us why we still pay for this?
Apple's MobileMe Mail gets a refresh for some reason originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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OnLive turns sentient, now beaming gaming goodness over the ether (update) We were promised cloud gaming nirvana
on June 17, and OnLive has indeed kept to its self-imposed schedule. The new service that allows you to play resource-hungry games via only your browser window has taken its first steps into the real (non-beta) world with an initial catalog of 23 games. It'll be free for the first year for those who showed faith early on and
pre-registered, or $15 per month for new bandwagon riders. Do let us know your thoughts if you've gotten onboard at this nascent stage: does it play fantastically well, is it close to spectacular, or is it just a pedestrian effort aiming to capitalize on geeks' lust for unbound gaming? We
have to know.
[Thanks, Mike]
Update: OnLive's site doesn't seem to have been updated to reflect the service going live (you can
sign up, but can't just jump in and play). It might be, therefore, that OnLive is booting itself up in stages, with only
the early birds getting the first bite.
OnLive turns sentient, now beaming gaming goodness over the ether (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple launches 'Find My iPhone' app to remotely wipe and find your lost treasure Stay with us here because this one isn't obvious. Apple just launched its
Find My iPhone app on the iTunes App Store -- a service previously limited to
MobileMe's web interface. The App will find your iPhone or iPad or iPod touch should it be lost or stolen. So obviously, you don't install it on
your lost/stolen device, you install it on
a different iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, yours or somebody else's (try a Starbucks). Panicked owners can then login with their MobileMe account to map their missing property and then remotely lock the device or wipe the data. The App can only be installed on iOS 3.1.3 or later devices and is available now for free.
[Thanks, Brian M.]
Apple launches 'Find My iPhone' app to remotely wipe and find your lost treasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kin skin for Windows Mobile 6.5 leads to more questions than answers How would we like to replace the UI on our
Windows Mobile 6.5 phone with the
Kin UI? Well, we never really thought about it, we suppose... and frankly, we're not sure why anyone else did, either. Alas, KinLauncher is here, delivering a pretty authentic Kin-esque home screen but not much else -- as soon as you touch anything, you'll be dumped back into the cold comfort of WinMo (or
Sense, as the case may be). It's available for download, if you're really into that sort of thing -- but if you'd rather enjoy the carnage from a safe distance, there's a video after the break.
Continue reading Kin skin for Windows Mobile 6.5 leads to more questions than answers
Kin skin for Windows Mobile 6.5 leads to more questions than answers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Palm confirms new devices, webOS upgrade Ever since HP CEO Mark Hurd said he
wasn't interested in smartphones, it's like the company's been making up for lost time --
first by denying the exec's predilections, and more recently by actually
asking us
to speculate wildly. Now Palm's Developer Relations team has reportedly stepped in to confirm that speculation, telling devs that future devices and a new version of webOS are on the way. While there's no knowing if those devices are smartphones or when we might see them, we're told to expect a "very exciting" next year.
Palm confirms new devices, webOS upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple's A4 is like Samsung's S5, except where it's not Though the Apple iPad and the Samsung Wave most assuredly
share the same brain,
EE Times would like you to know there's more to a chip than its core -- analyzing Apple's system-on-a-chip designs in detail back to early iPhones, the publication noticed that Cupertino's silicon
both has custom design quirks
on top of ARM and shows heavy influence from Samsung as well.
EE Times claims that while the A4 and Samsung S5PC110 are similar, there are certainly differences, enough to call the A4 a custom design. Essentially, Apple has a taken a one-size-fits-all product originally engineered to meet the needs of a broad range of OEMs and reduced its complexity, footprint, and cost to match Apple's particular goals. As far as whether
PA Semi or
Intrinsity had a hand in that design, the authors suggest only the latter seems very involved. What all this means for intellectual property questions is anyone's guess -- we'll let the lawyers fight that one out -- but when you encounter diehard fans that claim one's ripping off the other, at least now you'll be able to calmly explain the situation. Find the deep technical dive at our source link.
Apple's A4 is like Samsung's S5, except where it's not originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung's Spinpoint F4 320GB is fast and quiet, we think
You still rocking a desktop rig at home? Then you might want to check out Samsung's latest 3.5-inch spinner, the SpinPoint F4. The latest F-series drive features a 7,200 RPM platter rotation and 8MB/16MB buffer memory in capacities of up 320GB. While detailed performance specs aren't given, the SATA 3Gbps F4 has a one-head design with fewer moving parts (for quieter operation) delivering a 10% increase in read/write performance over Samsung's Spinpoint F1 while consuming 7% less power. Unfortunately, that's not very helpful for comparison against other manufacturers' drives now is it? Regardless, it's shipping to OEMs now.
Continue reading Samsung's Spinpoint F4 320GB is fast and quiet, we think
Samsung's Spinpoint F4 320GB is fast and quiet, we think originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Acer comes clean with new Aspire One availability and pricing We've pretty much known about all of these
Acer netbooks that are officially being announced today, but their very tempting price tags are definitely new to us. First up is the 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 and 10.1-inch 521, both of which we
checked out last month. While the duo are powered by the same AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processors and ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics, the 721 will start at $429.99 while the 521 at $349.99. And let's not forget that, unlike Intel Atom powered netbooks, they sport HDMI ports and claim to be "HD capable." Speaking of Intel netbooks, Acer's got those in store too -- the 10-inch, Atom powered Aspire One
D260 and 533 will also be available later this month. The D620 packs an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM and a three-cell battery for $298. On the flip side, the $330 Aspire One 533 has a slightly faster N475 processor, a 250GB hard drive and a six-cell battery. Enticing, right? The full press release is after the break, but hopefully we'll be able to assist you in choosing one of these with some full reviews soon.
Continue reading Acer comes clean with new Aspire One availability and pricing
Acer comes clean with new Aspire One availability and pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Droid 2 (or whatever it's called) for Verizon breaks cover once again Nothing new here, but at this point, Motorola's delicious duo of fresh Android phones for Verizon is leaking like... well, like a leaky faucet, we suppose. We've already got the full scoop on the keyboardless 4.3-inch
Droid X -- a beast ready to take on sworn enemies from HTC like the
EVO 4G and the
Droid Incredible -- and we've seen plenty of details on the so-called
Droid 2, too. The latter appears destined to replace the original Droid with a better keyboard layout and ever-so-gently refined ergonomics, but the latest leak from a
Gizmodo tipster confirms that the cam's still 5 megapixels and it's currently running Android 2.1 atop Moto's new-look Blur (interestingly, the "Droid 2" name couldn't be confirmed). Apparently it's set for release in the "next few weeks," which would line up with rumors we've heard in the past of a launch windows somewhere between July and August -- so here's the real question: X or 2?
Droid 2 (or whatever it's called) for Verizon breaks cover once again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ask Engadget: best non-SSD laptop hard drive? We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's
Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Jason, who needs a laptop drive upgrade that doesn't involve the words "solid state." Or "really expensive." If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at
ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"I am in the market for a 2.5-inch notebook drive for my new Core i7 MacBook Pro. The biggest concern for me is performance, with storage after that, and impact on battery life last. Every SSD I have seen is over my budget. I am wondering which hard drive will be the best non-solid state drive to fit in a MBP. Some people mentioned Seagate's Momentus XT, which is a hybrid drive -- are they any good? Thanks!"
One thing Jason left out was his capacity requirements and actual budget, but we'll go ahead and assume he wants something larger than 40GB and cheaper than the average SSD. Any blazing HDDs out there for the taking? Go on, it's not like giving up your secret will make everyone reading this go buy up the remaining inventory. No promises on that, though.
Ask Engadget: best non-SSD laptop hard drive? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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First iPhone 4 camper spotted, one week early (update: video) Let's hope he got his
preorder in, and that he's not waiting for
the white one. Otherwise, he's going to be one unhappy camper, eh? Sorry, couldn't help ourselves.
Update: Video interview with the Yosemite Squatter posted after the break.
[Thanks, BT228]
Continue reading First iPhone 4 camper spotted, one week early (update: video)
First iPhone 4 camper spotted, one week early (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nox Audio explores audiophile options with Scout mini headset, we go ears-on When the Scout in-ear headset launches this fall, it'll actually be Nox Audio's second debut product -- the first is the Specialist
we just reviewed -- but unlike that pair of supra-aural cans, these little devils may actually have quality sound. Even in the hustle and bustle of the E3 2010 floor, we were able to make out clear, nuanced audio from their balanced armature drivers, and were impressed by the build quality as well. The silicone tab attached to each phone kept them more easily affixed to the ears, and both the
in-line microphone and
send / end button for calls were so tiny a Nox rep had to point them out -- at first, we thought they were part of the cord. At an estimated $70, though, we'll be eager to see how they compete with
Klipsch, not to mention
Apple's model.
Nox Audio explores audiophile options with Scout mini headset, we go ears-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HTC slaps phone firmware site with cease and desist letter
You might be familiar with firmware impresario
Conflipper by now, a man who's earned a reputation tearing apart ROMs -- often for unreleased devices -- and pulling out the juicy bits for everyone to see. Turns out the dude runs a site called Shipped ROMs with... yes, you guessed it, a bunch of shipped ROMs for a wide variety of phones on it, and it seems HTC's legal cats in Taiwan have taken issue, saying they've got "very strong reasons to believe that the HTC Intellectual Property was illegally obtained by fraudulent means" in a strongly-worded cease and desist letter sent to him earlier today. We reached out to HTC's US branch for comment and got back the following:
"While HTC tries to take a hands off [approach] about the modder / ROM chef community, this site's sole purpose [is] to make HTC's content available for download from a source other than HTC. That content is not just the open source parts and kernels of Android but all of the software that HTC itself has developed. This is a clear violation of our copyrights and HTC needs to defend itself in these cases."
In other words, these guys are just really against hosting official ROMs on unofficial servers. Anyone can dump a ROM from a phone and flesh it out, so we can't imagine there's any competitive concern -- and no first-party site makes so many firmware builds available for so many devices in such a concise, well-organized way as Shipped ROMs is doing. Ultimately, it's HTC's property -- it seems like they're probably in the legal right here -- but the unsavory PR effect with some of the company's staunchest enthusiasts makes the endeavor more trouble than it's worth, we'd argue. Tread carefully, HTC.
HTC slaps phone firmware site with cease and desist letter originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What's going on with the HP Slate? Interesting post by our friend Harry McCracken at
Technologizer today, pointing out that HP's gone dead silent about the
Slate ever since it announced
plans to acquire Palm. Harry was at The Big Money's Untethered conference today, and HP CTO Phil McKinney was on stage, where he "talked about the downsides of using existing operating systems for new types of devices" and "extolled the virtues of webOS." Interesting topic, since the Slate very prominently ran Windows 7. When pressed, Phil said he couldn't talk about unreleased products, which is a big change: it's been six months since Steve Ballmer first
showed the Slate at CES, and since then HP's produced
several rah-rah videos, one of them featuring none other than
Phil McKinney himself.
Harry takes this new silence to mean that the
HP Slate is dead, and we're beginning to think he's right: although we haven't heard anything concrete, we definitely noticed HP's absence at
tablet-heavy Computex, and at this rate, the Slate's
rumored 1.6GHz Atom Z530 will be hopelessly out of date by the time it launches -- Intel's now showing off
Moorestown Atom Z600 tablets and it's got the Windows-tablet focused
Oak Trail Atom planned for early next year. The window's closing a little more with every passing day -- at this point, HP needs to come clean just so we can all move on to waiting for the
Hurricane.
What's going on with the HP Slate? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Valve says Apple, NVIDIA and ATI are working to improve Mac gaming performance We've already seen some evidence that Macs running
Steam are
generally more powerful than PCs running Steam, and it looks like Apple is busily working to make sure that all potential performance is put to good use. As Valve's Rob Barris has confirmed on the company's forums, Apple, ATI and NVIDIA are all "involved" in improving Mac gaming performance, and that "performance is going to improve as drivers are updated." Barris further went on to say that he expects "modest improvements in short term and larger ones in longer term," but wouldn't offer any specific dates as to when some of those updates might roll out.
Valve says Apple, NVIDIA and ATI are working to improve Mac gaming performance originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Check out our NVIDIA Optimus hub! If you're really, really into NVIDIA's Optimus switchable graphics (like
some people around here) then you'll certainly want to hit up our
brand new hub, which features all the products we've reviewed and all the things we know about our favorite topic.
Check out our NVIDIA Optimus hub! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft outs Windows Embedded Handheld platform, Motorola ES400 is the first to get it Throughout the course of
Windows Phone 7's paced, deliberate unveiling this year, Microsoft has been very clear on the fact that it doesn't intend for Windows Mobile -- the legacy platform we know today -- to disappear, arguing that it's got several years of life left in it for certain verticals. We're starting to see that philosophy play out today with the introduction of Windows Embedded Handheld, which is essentially a warmed-over version of
WinMo 6.5.3 with some key UI and enterprise-focused enhancements. Microsoft is specifically calling out an "extended support life-cycle" for the platform, a sign that these phones aren't for the gotta-have-it crowd -- instead, the company intends to push these things through corporate fleets where Windows Mobile has traditionally dominated, places where Windows Phone's flashy stylings and locked-down underpinnings won't have the same draw.
To that end, Motorola has announced the ES400 as Windows Embedded Handheld's inaugural device, a rugged smartphone with a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7627 core, resistive VGA touchscreen, fingerprint scanner, and a trick 3.5G radio that can be user-switched between GSM and CDMA. Naturally, you're not going to see this on carrier shelves, but the ES400 is being pushed as a solid option for field sales and service, healthcare, and retail use -- so if you're working in any of those fields, you might have a harder time shaking off the last remnants of WinMo than you ever imagined. Follow the break for Microsoft's press release.
Continue reading Microsoft outs Windows Embedded Handheld platform, Motorola ES400 is the first to get it
Microsoft outs Windows Embedded Handheld platform, Motorola ES400 is the first to get it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HTC Legend with North American 3G now available unlocked Sure, the
Desire's coming to a handful of regional American carriers later this year, but what if you want the smaller, sleeker, more aluminum-clad
Legend? Well, there aren't any carrier-branded options in the States -- but it seems that a number of unlocked units with US 3G bands are starting to ooze out of the cracks. Negri Electronics has an 850 / 1900MHz 3G Legend in its store for a shade under $500, which means you're not getting much of a discount over the more powerful 850 / 1900MHz version of the
Nexus One -- but you are getting a pretty sweet unibody shell and an optical d-pad. Any takers?
HTC Legend with North American 3G now available unlocked originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rock Band 3 Fender Mustang Pro guitar controller and MIDI-Pro adapter eyes-on We still can't get time with the
Fender Mustang Pro guitar controller while actually
playing Rock Band 3, but the gang at the Mad Catz booth were fine enough with us letting us toy around on its own, sans game. So, how does it feel just silently going through chords and scales? Sturdy as can be, sure, and the 100-plus buttons for the neck feel like they'll stand up for a good bit of time. That said, it felt harder than a real guitar locating the strings and frets -- especially a pain for faster chord changing. Also a burden? No ability to bend strings -- not that you'll be able to bend on
the Squier Stratocaster either, as it turns out, but that's a whole 'nother issue. We also got some eyes on the MIDI Pro Adapter for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii; there isn't much to look at for now, but if you get your kicks from plastic dongles, hey, we've got all the photos you need below.
Rock Band 3 Fender Mustang Pro guitar controller and MIDI-Pro adapter eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New Xbox 360 shows up in the wild, gets unboxed, torn asunder and modded Hey, look at what we have here -- it's the
new Xbox 360 that was just debuted a few days back -- and there's a lot going down with this one which has somehow made its way into the wild. We get the full unboxing treatment, a detailed
teardown, and finish up with some delicious, light-paneled modding. While we can't really gather much beyond what we already know, the drive appears to be a Philips Lite-On DG-16D4S -- just in case you were wondering about that one. There's a video below showing off this one's new, modded exterior.
[Thanks, Thomas C]
Continue reading New Xbox 360 shows up in the wild, gets unboxed, torn asunder and modded
New Xbox 360 shows up in the wild, gets unboxed, torn asunder and modded originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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FaceCash mobile payment apps are like real money, only with your face on it instead of someone smart ThinkLink's FaceCash
mobile payment system has debuted several apps (for BlackBerry,
iPhone, and Android devices) which allow you to pay for things merely by scanning your phone -- and showing off the attached photo to confirm it is, in fact, your own money that you're spending. You sign up, link your FaceCash account to your personal checking and savings account, and you're good to go with participating merchants. The apps can also store credit card numbers and banking information (perfect for when you lose your phone during a night of heavy partying), making it easier to leave your wallet or purse behind... or so they say. Sadly, FaceCash currently only has merchants in California, and really, who wants to live there?
FaceCash mobile payment apps are like real money, only with your face on it instead of someone smart originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Razer shows off Starcraft II series of gaming peripherals
Razer has been teasing these for
months, but it's just now given us our first look at its new Starcraft II series of gaming peripherals. Those include the Razer Spectre gaming mouse, the Razer Marauder gaming keyboard, and the Razer Banshee gaming headset, which all boast the same Starcraft-themed designs complete with blue LEDs, and all the gamer-friendly touches you'd expect from Razer -- 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response on the keyboard, 5600 dpi resolution and button force adjustment on the mouse, and a detachable mic on the headset, to name just a few features. Of course, they'll also demand a bit of a premium price -- look for the Spectre mouse to run $80, and the Marauder keyboard and Banshee headset to each set you back $120 when they roll out sometime in the third quarter of this year (presumably alongside Starcraft II). Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the gallery below for a closer look at the whole lot.
Continue reading Razer shows off Starcraft II series of gaming peripherals
Razer shows off Starcraft II series of gaming peripherals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Behind the scenes with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 team: 'I think about this really as a first release' CNET had a chance recently to get embedded deep within Microsoft's
Windows Phone 7 engineering group, listening in on meetings with OEMs, arguments, celebrations, and all the other drama that comes with trying to ship a huge product that's new from the ground up in just a couple years' time. There aren't any blockbuster revelations in here -- no launch devices, ship dates, or prices -- but it's an interesting look at the project from Windows Phone engineering VP Terry Myerson's perspective, who acknowledges that it'll take a long time and several releases to catch up to the competition but still thinks they'll "actually have a lot of happy customers" with version one.
On a related note, some existing Windows Marketplace devs have started getting notifications that Microsoft wants to send them loaner Windows Phone 7 devices -- yes, loaners, meaning they'll need to be returned to the mother ship at some point down the road. They're apparently set up for delivery in July, which should give publishers plenty of time to stock up the Marketplace in time for that planned holiday launch.
Behind the scenes with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 team: 'I think about this really as a first release' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone 4 to have 512MB of RAM, double the 3GS and iPad? Apple has traditionally been -- how shall we put it --
cagey with revealing memory and CPU specifics of its mobile devices, but
MacRumors is today reporting its discovery that the fourth-gen iPhone's RAM apportionment will be a very healthy 512MB. We've heard similar rumblings from reliable sources of our own. What it means is that iPhone 4 users can look forward to not only the
same processor (though potentially at a lower speed) as their
iPad compatriots, but also
double the memory allowance. Of course, this will hardly be the first handset to offer half a gig for the OS to dance inside, but at least Apple's keeping up with the times. Wouldn't wanna disappoint all those
pre-orderers now, would we?
iPhone 4 to have 512MB of RAM, double the 3GS and iPad? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, June 23rd with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft Kinect, and more!
That's right, Engadgeteers -- the tables have turned. Next Wednesday, June 23rd, the Engadget Show returns full force with a very special guest:
Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (and also a major geek). Jimmy will be sitting down with us for the kind of frank, eye-opening, and downright thrilling one-on-one conversation only the Engadget Show can provide. Not only that, but we'll have the
Microsoft Kinect live and on stage for a hands-on demo -- so you'll get a chance to see it in action long before it hits shelves this November! And there are
lots of other
major surprises in-store.
We'll also have music from the inimitable Glomag, along with some stunning visuals. Oh, and did we mention the crazy giveaways? Like... a
pair of new Xbox 360s? Seriously, you do not want to miss this one -- it's going to be epic.
The Show will be taking place at the
Rose Auditorium in Cooper Union's
New Academic Building, located in Manhattan at
41 Cooper Square. Seating is extremely limited, so get there early!
Here's all the info you need:
- There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
- The event is all ages
- Ticketing will begin at 5PM on Wednesday, doors will open for seating at 7:30PM, and the show begins at 8PM
- You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
- Seating capacity is limited (only about 200 seats in the theatre), and once we're full, we're full
- The venue is located at 41 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 (map after the break)
- The show length is around an hour
If you're a
member of the media who wishes to attend, please
contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other
non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.
Sprint is offering
50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply.
Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online.
Subscribe to the Show:[
iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[
RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Continue reading The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, June 23rd with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft Kinect, and more!
The Engadget Show returns Wednesday, June 23rd with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft Kinect, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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