IT News HeadLines (Engadget) 26/07/2010

Samsung TV schedule points to Epic 4G in August?

On August 20th, at 4:30PM Eastern Standard Time, Samsung will show off the Epic 4G smartphone on their television support website. Why is this of interest to you? Simply because the last two times the company did such a thing -- for the Vibrant and Captivate, respectively -- these infomercials all but coincided with the phones' planned release date. We wouldn't go around making any wagers if we were you, but if someone asks you when we might see a Galaxy S with a physical keyboard, you'll be able to make a ballpark estimate instead of pulling numbers out of your hat. Don't know what we're on about? Read our full preview of the Hummingbird-laden device.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung TV schedule points to Epic 4G in August? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI's Core i7-equipped GT660R makes itself available to US consumers
MSI's GT660 has been kicking around in various forms for a few months now, but the latest edition (dubbed GT660R) is just now splashing down on a few e-tailer websites. Boasting a 1.73GHz Core i7-740QM processor, 6GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive (7,200RPM), Blu-ray combo drive and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285M, this 16-inch beast is more than capable of handling whatever HD media and first-person shooters you've got sitting around. 'Course, you'll need to be fully prepared to lug around 7.7 pounds of heft, and the 1,366 x 768 resolution is far from ideal, but at least you're given a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. It's up for order now at $1,699.99, but unless you've got a thing for atypically large pixels, we'd suggest springing for an alternative that'll display 1080p natively.

MSI's Core i7-equipped GT660R makes itself available to US consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MagicJack's femtocell misses its launch date, still hasn't been submitted to the FCC for approval

Wondering about the fate of the MagicJack femtocell now that its promised second quarter launch window has passed? So was Computerworld, and what it found out isn't exactly promising for the as-seen-on-TV company. According to a MagicJack spokesperson, it's taken longer than expected to finish the software and patents associated with the product, which means it still hasn't even been able to submit the device to the FCC for approval. The company says the software should be done within two weeks, however, but that still means a wait time of several more months while the FCC does its thing. Of course, that's to say nothing of the many legal problems facing the device, which MagicJack is unsurprisingly not commenting on -- although it insists the device will be available "this year."

MagicJack's femtocell misses its launch date, still hasn't been submitted to the FCC for approval originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NICT's fVisiOn makes you see immaterial bunnies (video)

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) has been chasing holographic damsels in distress for as long as we can remember, and honestly, the technology's still not quite there, but the team that brought us the gCubik has managed to create a low-res 3D hologram table that impresses anyhow. Using an twist on the famous optical illusion toys that use convex mirrors to make objects appear to float in the air, NICT hits a specially-designed optical filter cone with the light from 96 pico projectors. The result is a series of familiar-looking rabbits, teapots and the occasional rubber duck standing five centimeters high and visible through 120 degrees, a good sight better than the two-degree radius afforded them by the original technology. The best part is there's no case enclosing these creations, unlike competing ideas, so we'll eventually see 360-degree tables where your fingers can frolic alongside the ethereal leporidae. Watch the lead researcher demo a prototype after the break.Continue reading NICT's fVisiOn makes you see immaterial bunnies (video)

NICT's fVisiOn makes you see immaterial bunnies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Sense coming to Windows Phone 7, after all

Some cried and some cheered when Microsoft revealed that handset manufacturers couldn't reskin Windows Phone 7 devices wholesale. But as it turns out, at least one major OEM is still banking on software to help differentiate its phones. HTC's Drew Bamford told Forbes that Sense UI will still appear in the company's Windows Phone 7 creations, and believes it will live on in Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) as well. "Microsoft has taken firmer control of the core experience," acknowledged Bamford, who added that Sense wouldn't be fully integrated into WP7 phones, but that HTC would "augment" the Microsoft experience with as-yet-undisclosed functionality of its own. As long as it doesn't eat up too much memory and processor time, right?

HTC Sense coming to Windows Phone 7, after all originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ThinkFlood recalls lot of RedEye Mini IR dongles

That didn't take long, in fact just days after we told you that Thinkflood started shipping the RedEye Mini IR dongles that help turn your iOS device into a remote control, and with favorable results, the company's website is now recalling a lot of them. If you bought one that happens to have a serial number that starts with C0101, then you can expect a replacement sent to you out of lot D0102, when they become available (who's headphone jack is held to the board with solder like the prototype pictured, instead of foam). For those who don't want to wait, full refunds will be available. This is obviously not what anyone wants to hear, but the only thing worse than a recall is when a company notices a problem with the manufacturing process and instead just hopes you don't notice.

ThinkFlood recalls lot of RedEye Mini IR dongles originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak makes friends with Logitech diNovo Mini (in more ways than one)

So, you've either purchased a Streak, or you're anxiously awaiting your own here in the US. Fantastic. Now what? If you've just over $100 to spend and even a pinch of smarts, you'll give strong consideration to Logitech's diNovo Mini. Though launched around two years ago, this portable Bluetooth keyboard looks like a match made in heaven for Dell's newfangled 5-inch smartphone, with the cover holding the Streak (almost) perfectly in order to create a makeshift Android laptop. Better still, the Bluetooth device pairs seamlessly with Dell's doodad, and both the keys and finger pad operate sans any major issues. But hey, it's not like you ought to be taking our word for it -- head on past the break to see the magic happen on video, and dig down in that source link for even more inspiration. It might just convince your cold, hardened heart that love does indeed exist.Continue reading Dell Streak makes friends with Logitech diNovo Mini (in more ways than one)

Dell Streak makes friends with Logitech diNovo Mini (in more ways than one) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Beyond an opportunity for a lucky few to visit the surreal and sophisticated wireless testing labs buried deep within the Apple campus, the Steve Jobs "Antennagate" press conference had few surprises in terms of using a tool at Apple's disposal -- its own Bumpers (augmented by those of third parties) -- to address a vulnerability of the iPhone 4 antenna design. The difference between the iPhone 4 and other devices is the clear marking of the spot at which physical contact causes the signal to degrade. Optimists could consider this a visual reminder to avoid contact while pessimists could see a constant reminder of imperfection. Regardless, at its press conference, Apple added - and continues to add -- visual verification of its assertion that multiple handsets (or at least smartphones) can fall victim to a strategic grasp.

Beyond that, the only muted revelation of the day was that AT&T is reporting that the iPhone 4 is monitoring dropped calls on the iPhone 4 at a rate ever so slightly above that of the 3GS. However, the 3GS did not have a reputation for being particularly tenacious at holding on to a call. Indeed, were it not for all the heat the previous iPhone took at AT&T, perhaps Apple would not have had to push for so radical an antenna redesign. Therefore, it would have been interesting to know how the iPhone 4 compared to the AT&T smartphone average (skewed as it is to iPhones anyway), especially given the earlier Apple demonstration of how other smartphones can suffer from attenuation.Continue reading Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways

Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9300 spotted in T-Mobile branding (update)

It's certainly not the first time we've seen this here BlackBerry (with "this here" meaning "Curve 9300"), but it's the first time we've seen it outfitted in carrier clothing. Notice that T-Mobile logo at the bottom? That's the clearest indication yet that this particular 'Berry will soon be headed to T-Mob, but given that it's unlikely to support an upgrade to BlackBerry OS 6, your off-the-chart excitement level may indeed be unwarranted. At any rate, we're also hearing that Rogers in Canada will be snagging this at launch, but we'll be passing along official details just as soon as we get them.

Update: As it turns out, this actually isn't the first time we've seen a magenta-scarved Curve 9300, just the one that has us most convinced it's got a date with destiny. Not to mention stateside availability.

RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9300 spotted in T-Mobile branding (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CTIA sues San Francisco over cellphone radiation law

San Francisco may have signed cellphone radiation labels into law, but the stickers won't stick without a fight -- the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA) just filed a complain in federal district court, claiming the new law supersedes the FCC's authority to regulate radio emissions and misleads consumers into believing some phones are safer than others. As we've discussed previously, the CTIA does have something of a point. Every phone that makes it to market is rigorously tested for cell phone radiation levels, and those that pass fall below a specific 1.6 watt per kilogram threshold already. But hey, we're all for bombarding our brains with that much less radiation, as long as our calls stay connected and our text messages arrive on time. If only there were a label for that... Read the CTIA's full complaint at our more coverage link.

CTIA sues San Francisco over cellphone radiation law originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe Air peer-to-peer video call concept Android app hands-on (video)

If you recall, a few days ago we stumbled upon a cheekily-named concept app (which has since been renamed for obvious reasons) from Adobe that does video-calling on Android. This is pretty rad considering it's just Qik and Fring offering the same service for the green bot right now, so we trotted along to Adobe's London office to get a closer look at this demo. As with many things in life, not all went as planned as you can see after the break -- the video stream froze up on several occasions, but then again Adobe's Mark Doherty only spent three days cooking this simple app. Regardless, this should still help Android developers understand the beefed-up peer-to-peer capabilities in the forthcoming Air 2.5 runtime, which is now "feature-complete" and undergoing extensive testing ahead of launch later this year.

Things are less positive for Flash availability on other mobile platforms, though. While Nokia's just waiting for a Linux SDK before it can start porting Flash apps to its devices within 2010, Adobe implied that it's still waiting for two other vendors to respond -- Palm's already been shown a Flash build running on webOS devices, and it's just a matter of the company signing up for Adobe's device certification system; RIM, on the other hand, is a bit more vague, but we were told it's definitely interested in both Air and Flash. And here's the surprise of the day: no comment on Flash for iOS (not to be confused with its digital publishing tools for the iPad), but there's no stopping you from hacking it in yourself.Continue reading Adobe Air peer-to-peer video call concept Android app hands-on (video)

Adobe Air peer-to-peer video call concept Android app hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Bold 9780 leaks out with OS 6, QWERTY instead of touchscreen

Take this one with a grain of salt, but it's looking like our old friend the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is getting a wee bit of an update. Yesterday evening, CrackBerry discovered a RIM document that describes a QWERTY-packing, OS 6-rocking "BlackBerry 9780" destined for a GSM carrier near you... and less than 24 hours later, handset sleuth Salomondrin claims to have the first picture of the device. While we quite honestly can't tell the difference, the man who outed the Curve 2 says this device's chrome bezel is a tad darker than the original, and that it'll have 512MB of flash memory when it hits the scene. Of course, this could just be an Bold 9700 with a hacked ROM or a theme of some sort, but we certainly hope not; pepper it up with CDMA, and you've got a shoe-in for the Curve 3.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlackBerry Bold 9780 leaks out with OS 6, QWERTY instead of touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Podcast 206 - 07.24.2010

This is an incredibly well-rounded and insightful double podcast. It is so well-rounded and insightful that it looks like it might turn into a triple podcast and is, quite frankly, the best podcast the Engadget Podcasters have ever seen.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Double Rainbow

00:02:33 - Panasonic's new Lumix lineup: LX5, FZ40, FZ100, FX700, and TS10 all official
00:06:52 - Canon developing smaller DSLRs to compete with mirrorless cameras?
00:07:00 - Nikon planning "new concept" mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with enhanced video modes
00:21:12 - New Xbox 360 4GB ships August 3rd for $199, Kinect standalone priced at $149, bundle coming this holiday for $299
00:30:48 - webOS 2.0 coming 'later this year,' says HP's Rubinstein
00:30:58 - HP Slate no longer a consumer product, will arrive for enterprise this fall
00:31:24 - HP files for 'PalmPad' trademark -- a webOS tablet, perhaps?
00:31:35 - HP Slate 500 with Windows 7 surfaces on HP's site
00:31:54 - HP confirms that Slate is still kicking, 'next steps' being determined
00:41:52 - HP CEO: Palm could end up a 'sub-brand' of the company
00:46:41 - Samsung Galaxy S review shootout: Captivate for AT&T and Vibrant for T-Mobile
00:48:14 - Dell Streak review redux: thoughts from the New World
00:48:41 - Nexus One is sold out in Google's store -- forever
00:56:32 - Motorola mini Droid slider caught by Mr. Blurrycam
00:59:07 - Droid 2 being prepared for launch, set to arrive August 23rd?
01:00:29 - Apple posts record $3.25b profit in first full quarter of iPad sales, says more 'amazing products' coming this year
01:00:48 - Apple begins iPhone 4 Case Program: apply for your free case or Bumper now
01:01:26 - Apple delays white iPhone a second time, won't ship until 'later this year'
01:03:08 - Apple starts refunding Bumper purchases automagically
01:07:45 - AT&T announces 26 percent earnings growth for Q2, $4b profit
01:16:28 - Droid X users gobbling up 5x the data of other Verizon smartphones
01:18:00 - Microsoft reports $4.5b in profit, a record $16.04b in revenue
01:18:30 - Steve Ballmer feeling pressure at Microsoft for stagnating share price?
01:18:48 - Kin listed as at least $240 million writeoff in Microsoft earnings report
01:21:44 - Microsoft to employees: 'everybody gets a Windows Phone 7!'
01:21:50 - Microsoft wants employees to code Windows Phone 7 apps 'in their spare time'



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Engadget Podcast 206 - 07.24.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi 'Life Microscope' promises to track your every movement

Sure, there's plenty of devices like the Fitbit that can track your movement and report on your general level of activity or laziness, but only Hitachi has what it's dubbed a "Life Microscope." That name apparently comes from the fact that the device is able to track your activity with more detail than other fitness monitors -- including, it seems, the difference between sitting and sleeping, and even the difference between eating or playing video games. That data is then naturally able to be transferred to a PC, and it also sounds like the Life Microscope could be incorporated into actual watches as well -- if it ever moves beyond the concept stage, that is.

Hitachi 'Life Microscope' promises to track your every movement originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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