Tuesday, September 14, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Engadget) 13/09/2010

Boxee Box ditches NVIDIA's Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100, pre-orders start today at $229 MSRP
The wait for the Boxee Box is nearly over -- pre-orders begin today -- but before you drop a stack of change on D-Link's half-sunk cube, know that there's no longer an NVIDIA Tegra 2 under that tiny hood. At the last minute, Boxee switched to the Intel Atom CE4100, the same up-to-1.2GHz Sodaville chip powering Google TV. That's not all, as manufacturer D-Link told us our good friend Avner Ronen may not be able to keep his promise -- though the company still expects the Box to hit the streets at under $200, we're now looking at a $229 suggested retail price. What could possibly have happened to make these drastic changes? We visited Boxee in person to get an explanation, and you'll find the surprisingly simple (yet NVIDIA-damning) answer right after the break.
Gallery: Boxee Box final hardware, hands-on
Continue reading Boxee Box ditches NVIDIA's Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100, pre-orders start today at $229 MSRP
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Mitsubishi's huge, modular OLED display set to go on sale worldwide on September 21
Before you start dreaming of 155-inch OLED displays for your home theater, let us remind you that this Mitsubishi's panel happens to pack an ignoble 69dpi pixel density. So while it is indeed a wall-sized OLED image maker, it's not exactly designed to match up to the HD rigors of modern entertainment. Composed of smaller, bezel-free modules, Mitsu's Diamond Vision OLED display has gone from CEATEC prototype last year to a triumphant retail product this year, starting to be exchanged for cash, trinkets and favors this September 21. As you might have guessed, it's primarily intended for use in digital signage scenarios -- which should be great so long as nobody tries to perch one up in the sun.Continue reading Mitsubishi's huge, modular OLED display set to go on sale worldwide on September 21
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Microsoft's 1080p LifeCam Studio review
The 1080p webcam party is just getting started, Logitech kicking things off with the $99 C910 earlier this year, and now things are heating up with Microsoft making its appearance. Today the company is announcing the immediate availability of the $99 Lifecam Studio, an upgraded version of the LifeCam Cinema HD that's pushing more pixels and a few other nice features, like a threaded receiver for tripod use. Overkill, or is this the webcam you want? Click on through to find out.
Gallery: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
Continue reading Microsoft's 1080p LifeCam Studio review
Microsoft's 1080p LifeCam Studio review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Contour announces 1080p ContourGPS helmetcam, lets friends locate your extreme exploits (video)
Contour announces 1080p ContourGPS helmetcam, lets friends locate your lid-mounted exploits
When it comes to the high-end helmetcam game, GoPro and Contour seem to have the market cornered. Contour was first to bring 1080p to your headgear of choice, and now it's the first to add GPS in to the mix. (GoBandit started talking about doing the same back in February, but we're still waiting on that to become a reality.) The $349 ContourGPS still offers the same video specs as the $279 ContourHD 1080p we reviewed this time last year, but now when sharing your videos you can also embed a real-time map view. Read on for more details, and a look at the UI.
Gallery: ContourGPS helmetcam
Continue reading Contour announces 1080p ContourGPS helmetcam, lets friends locate your extreme exploits (video)
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T-Mobile G2 gets $150 price tag at Radio Shack
You didn't rush out and grab that Best Buy pre-order while it was still hot and steaming, did you? Radio Shack's decided to step up its charm offensive with any potential G2 owners in the best way possible: by chopping $50 off the upfront price for the handset via an instant rebate. So, Amazon et al, care to outbid this daring ploy for affection with your own discounts?

[Thanks, Ricky]
T-Mobile G2 gets $150 price tag at Radio Shack originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft bringing Windows Phone 7 to some languages without Xbox Live or Zune?
Microsoft has already gone on record saying that Windows Phone 7 will be initially launching in just five languages, all with essentially the same easy character set -- English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish -- but they're undoubtedly champing at the bit to ramp that list up to a few more. In fact, the latest word on the street is that they're going to be cutting a bunch of corners on those additional tongues, presumably in an effort to get them on shelves sooner rather than later. Not a bad strategy, perhaps, but the rumored list of features on the chopping block is an ugly one: Xbox Live support, Zune functionality, and "limited" Windows Phone Marketplace capability, just to name a few, and only the browser and email views will actually support the native character sets; phone menus and keyboards will initially be in one of the "big five." As much as we'd like to see WP7 in as many places as possible right away, we'd have to say this is too great a sacrifice if true -- all the best stuff would be gone. Keep chugging, guys.
Microsoft bringing Windows Phone 7 to some languages without Xbox Live or Zune? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Phone Arena  |  sourceWMExperts  | Email this | Comments
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Crapgadget: 'should you laugh or should you cry?' edition
A mouse in the shape of a gilded turtle? A human skull that doubles as an MP3 player? A USB-powered stapler that doubles as a USB hub? Those catastrophes, and many more, make up this week's edition of Crapgadget. Truth be told, we're actually kind of digging the stapler, but only due to our infatuation with Office Space and our boyhood dreams of seeing a sequel before we die. If none of those suit your fancy, though, there's also the retro camera keychain light, wine bottle USB speaker (an ultimate tailgate accessory, so we hear) and a light-up bunny which would quite literally be worthless if not for the cute factor. Take a peek down at each in the links below (if you dare), and then toss in your vote for worst of the worst. Seriously, do it -- it's a big deal.

Read - Gilded USB turtle mouse
Read - Human skull USB MP3 player
Read - USB stapler / hub
Read - Retro camera keychain light
Read - Wine bottle USB speaker
Read - USB bunny 4-port hub
Crapgadget: 'should you laugh or should you cry?' edition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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FCC set to approve use of unlicensed airwaves for whitespace internet, wants 'innovators and entrepreneurs' to exploit them
0diggsdigg Good old whitespace is finally about to get itself some real action, courtesy of the FCC's upcoming (and long-delayed) ratification of a decision to authorize its unlicensed use. Opening up the spare spectrum that resides between TV channels' broadcasting frequencies -- which in itself has expanded in the wake of the transition from analog to digital television -- is expected to be a massive boon to innovation, with exponentially larger wireless networks being the first prospective benefit. Such wireless nirvanas have already been set up in Claudville, Virginia and Wilmington, North Carolina, while Microsoft, Google, HP, Sprint, and others are said to be mulling and testing out their own ways for exploting the newfound wireless freedom as well. Another positive note is that former requirements for white space-using devices to be able to tap into a database and identify themselves are likely to be scrapped, making for much simpler rollouts of whatever awesome new tech awaits in our future.

[Thanks, Marc]
Permalink   |  sourceNew York Times  | Email this | Comments
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Opera gets serious about TV widget content, releases CDK
Norwegian software company Opera first waded into the TV app game when they released an SDK for widgets back in 2008. Now they've taken another serious step by releasing the Opera Devices Content Development Kit to help HTML, CSS, XML, and Javascript savvy developers create content using technologies they're already versed in. For those who don't live and breathe in The Matrix, Opera's hope is to lower the barriers of entry for bringing online content into the living room, since the software eliminates the need for physical devices to test on. It also supports W3C, HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV), OIPF, and CEA-2014 specifications -- meaning it's capable of running on a wide range of hardware from variety of manufacturers. For more details read the PR after the break or watch Opera's video from 2009 on the subject, which unfortunately isn't on par with its previous potato boiling jabs at Google. Still, learning about "Oprah's" new widgets makes it definitely worth a watch.Continue reading Opera gets serious about TV widget content, releases CDK
Opera gets serious about TV widget content, releases CDK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceeHome Upgrades  | Email this | Comments
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Rumored T-Mobile doc pegs myTouch HD with front-facing camera, screen sharing, and 'dual processor'
Now that T-Mobile's got its G2 slider out in the open, the cosmic universe reckons it's time to look towards the next HSPA+ device -- and the next iteration of the Android-laden myTouch series. We've seen alleged pics of the myTouch HD before, and now TmoNews has what it claims is an internal document from the carrier boasting some of the key features of the device. Sure, it could be all for naught, but let's hear this one out. According to the alleged paper, the myTouch HD runs on "America's largest 4G network" (that's gonna make some eyes roll) and has a 3.8-inch screen, Swype, 4GB internal space, a bundled 8GB SD card, a five megapixel rear camera, and a VGA camera on the front for video chat over Qik or Yahoo Messenger. There's also talk of screen sharing for pictures and video onto a HDTV, but that could be something as simple as HDMI output. Something tells us the 1GHz "dual processor" is more than likely a typo that's meant to say dual-core, à la the Snapdragon chips, but when you're dealing in the world of the unconfirmed, we suppose anything's possible.
Permalink   |  sourceTmoNews  | Email this | Comments
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Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins
Holy moly, it's all gone topsy turvy over in Nokia's camp. After Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was given his marching orders on Friday, this week it's the turn of Anssi Vanjoki -- who only recently became the company's Mobile Solutions leader -- to announce his departure. Anssi has handed in his requisite six-month notice along with the following statement:
"I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am one hundred per cent committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day. I am also really looking forward to this year's Nokia World and sharing news about exciting new devices and solutions."
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to recognize that Anssi's sudden desire to explore new opportunities is at least in part motivated by Nokia's choice to install Stephen Elop as its future CEO at the expense of good old OPK. Still, you've got to think there could've been a better time to announce such heart-stopping news, maybe after your company's most pivotal Nokia World convention in recent memory?

[Thanks, Ted]Continue reading Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins
Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Intel Core i5-580M and Core i7-640M highlight Sony's Asian laptop refresh
Sony's decided to litter its Asian portal with a smattering of blood-red "coming soon" signs, signifying an unannounced but seemingly very real wave of laptop refreshes. The F Series gets to play with NVIDIA's new 425M mobile GPU, but the real hotness is to be found in the Z Series, which get access to 2.8GHz Core i7-640M and 2.66GHz Core i5-580M CPU options from Intel. You'll recognize both as mostly roadmap fodder until now, and they're joined by the i5-560M, which makes its debut on a couple of Sony's midrange consumer lines. Basically, it's a whole lot of new silicon in what look like the same old enclosures, but that's not going to stop us from speccing out a Quad SSD-equipped VAIO Z just for the fun of it. We can probably expect these upgrades to journey westward soon as well, so why not hit the source link for a little bit of advance reconnaissance?

[Thanks, Wes]Continue reading Intel Core i5-580M and Core i7-640M highlight Sony's Asian laptop refresh
Intel Core i5-580M and Core i7-640M highlight Sony's Asian laptop refresh originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceSony Asia Pacific  | Email this | Comments
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Panasonic announces AF105 Micro Four Thirds camcorder, interchangeable lenses not included
The splicing of video and stills cameras continues unabated today, as Panasonic has just outed a serious-looking piece of photographic hardware. The AF105 (AF100 in Europe) is the world's first camcorder to offer a Four Thirds-sized sensor and provides 1080/60i or 1080/30p AVCHD video recording skills, while matching up to the growing selection of glassware for the company's Micro Four Thirds mount. SDHC and SDXC storage cards are accepted and there's a note that "cinema" lenses can also be fitted on via an extra adapter. The price is set at ¥837,900 (about $9,960) and launch is expected this December.

Update: We've now got video of the AF100/105 and a tentative European price of €4,900. American pricing can probably be expected somewhere around the $6,000 range. Thanks, James!
Continue reading Panasonic announces AF105 Micro Four Thirds camcorder, interchangeable lenses not included
Permalink AV Watch Impress  |  sourcePanasonic, GenusProducts (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments
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NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking
Say hello to NVIDIA's GF106 core (please pretend you've never met before). The company's third Fermi desktop iteration is described as "a little more than half of the GF104 implementation," which in real terms means 192 CUDA cores versus the GTX 460's 336, reduced memory bandwidth with a 128-bit-wide bus and a lower number of ROPs at 16. These disadvantages are ameliorated by 783MHz graphics and 1566MHz processor clock speeds as well as a much more forgiving power profile -- the new GTS 450 cards will require just the one 6-pin power connector for auxiliary juice. Pricing is aimed squarely at conquering the market currently occupied by ATI's HD 5750, which, as we saw over the weekend, plants the 450 around the $130 mark. You'll have to read the reviews below for confirmation, but NVIDIA promises "awesome" overclocking headroom on its new card, going as far as to suggest stable 900MHz graphics clocks aren't out of the realm of possibility.

Read - HardOCP
Read - Tech Report
Read - Guru 3D
Read - PC Perspective
Read - Legit Reviews
Read - Hot Hardware
Read - TweakTown
Gallery: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 cards
Continue reading NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking
NVIDIA makes GeForce GTS 450 official, promises beastly overclocking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Inhabitat's Week in Green: Tesla's Roadster 2.5, the world's smallest electric plane, and solar jellyfish goo
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
From the deep blue seas to the sunny skies, this week novel renewable energy projects lit up the newswires. We watched as the world's largest wave energy site was installed in the UK, and we were excited to see Europe's largest wind farm get a major upgrade. We also took a look at several high-flying turbines that could potentially tap 870 terawatts of high-altitude wind energy, and we were shocked to see scientists develop a new type of solar cell made from bioluminescent jellyfish.

We also showcased several soaring advances in green aviation as the Solar Impulse sun-powered airplane rallied for a series of trips across Switzerland and Cri-Cri, the wold's smallest electric plane, took its inaugural flight. Electric transportation also hit the streets as we took a spin in Tesla's brand new Roadster 2.5.

In other news, this week we saw the light as Hulger brought their stunningly sculpted Plumen bulbs to market, and we marveled at a fresh new solar panel-inspired clothing line and a photovoltaic roofing system that doesn't look like a Blade Runner prop. Finally, we celebrated the last days of summer with this awesome solar Ibex cooker that bakes and boils using the power of the sun.
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Entelligence: Will carriers destroy the Android vision?
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

It's an unfortunately familiar phenomena -- PC vendors suffering from razor thin margins load their devices with more stickers than a stock car and install gigabytes of useless applications that serve only to take up space and use system resources. Sony was perhaps the most egregious in 2008, offering to remove the offending bloatware for a $50 fee. It's as if Tony Soprano went into tech -- "Pay us and we won't mess up your computer."

It's deja vu all over again for mobile phones. More and more devices I look at are coming installed with applications I don't want, often popping up messages to try and upsell me on services I have no interest in. Even worse, unlike PCs where offensive applications can be removed or the OS reinstalled cleanly, there's often nothing that can be done to get rid of unwanted mobile software without arduous work. It's not limited to Android devices, but it seems that increasingly Android more than other platforms is shipping with the worst mobile bloatware. It's a bad trend that's going to lead to consumer backlash and it's destroying the credibility of Google's Android vision.Continue reading Entelligence: Will carriers destroy the Android vision?
Entelligence: Will carriers destroy the Android vision? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PlayStation Move goes on sale at Best Buy a little early
We're still a couple days away from the PlayStation Move's September 19 launch date, but hey -- who said Best Buy has to follow the rules? One of our readers picked up a Move at a Best Buy in Benton Harbor, Michigan today, and we'd expect the trickle to turn into a flood by the time the "official" launch finally arrives. So -- who's buying one?

[Thanks, Sam]
PlayStation Move goes on sale at Best Buy a little early originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft antipiracy efforts caught up in Russian political scandal
Microsoft's long taken aggressive steps to curb the rampant piracy of its software in Europe, but it seems like things have gotten a little out of hand: a new report in the New York Times today says Russian authorities are using piracy "investigations" as a pretext for seizing computers and other materials from political opponents of the government and news organizations. What's more, apparently Microsoft is quite supportive of these raids -- its lawyers have described the company as a "victim" and pushed for criminal charges. Making matters even worse, Microsoft is also accused of refusing to help targeted groups which have specifically purchased software to avoid being raided -- the company has said it's a matter for the Russian security police.

For its part, Microsoft issued a statement today saying that if their outside investigators "do not comport with professional ethics, anticorruption laws, or Microsoft policies, we terminate our relationship with them" and that the company "will act to ensure due process is followed in antipiracy cases that involve Microsoft products." Sounds like this story's going to get even more complicated -- we'll be following it closely.
Microsoft antipiracy efforts caught up in Russian political scandal originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  sourceNew York Times, Microsoft statement  | Email this | Comments
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Windows Phone 7 device roundup: LG E900 earns GCF certification, HTC Trophy meets Vodafone
You might remember that a huge roadmap document leaked out of HTC late last year; though many of the devices in it never materialized, the fact that the Legend, Bravo, and Photon turned out to be legit (as the Legend, Desire, and HD Mini, respectively) lends credence to the belief that all of the phones in that slide deck were at least on HTC's drawing board at one time or another. One of the more interesting MIA handsets -- the so-called Trophy with WinMo 6.5 and a portrait QWERTY keyboard -- looks like it may have been repurposed as a Windows Phone 7 model thanks to some new shots out of Vodafone Germany's inventory system, which is pretty awesome considering how difficult portrait QWERTY devices are to come by, generally (though it would've had to get a redesign with a higher-res display and faster processor to meet Microsoft's spec guidelines). Along the same lines, LG's well-leaked E900 has recently gotten its blessing from the Global Certification Forum where it's listed with 900 / 2100MHz 3G (HSPA, we're sure) alongside quadband GSM. Certainly going to be an interesting fall, isn't it?

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
Permalink the::unwired  |  sourceGlobal Certification Forum, BestBoyZ  | Email this | Comments
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iPad headed to Target on October 3rd?
0diggsdigg
It's not quite the definitive proof that some boxes spotted in the wild would be, but a tipster has sent us a few pieces of a puzzle that seem to suggest that Apple could be expanding the iPad's retail presence into Target stores just in time for the holiday shopping season. That includes a list featuring a mysteriously unnamed product that's set to become available on October 3rd (in six different versions, no less), and a series of images from a Target PDA (like the one pictured above) that seemingly show that the item numbers match the iPad prices exactly, and that it will be located in the Digital Audio section -- that's apparently also how e-readers like the Kindle are classified, in addition to iPods. Smoking gun? Not exactly, but it's certainly enough to get us to keep our eye on this one.
iPad headed to Target on October 3rd? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rumor pegs Nintendo 3DS for November 11th in Japan
Remember when Nintendo said it'd release its release date for the 3DS autostereoscopic portable game system on the 29th of this month? We may already have the magic number -- depending on how you interpret a few Japanese words. You see, a supposed video game accessory designer by the handle "nocchisan" recently tweeted that eleven Nintendo 3DS accessories will be released on November 11th, and asked his or her followers to kindly buy them up... while purportedly remarking that the 3DS itself will arrive at the same time. While the tweets in question can certainly be read that way, and it makes a certain amount of sense for accessories to appear at launch, our admittedly limited grasp of Japanese suggests an alternative translation: that it's the accessories themselves (and not the 3DS) that will all arrive at the same time. There's also the little matter of nocchisan himself, whose Twitter account has already disappeared -- we have nothing actually connecting him to the accessory company except a link in his tweet.
Rumor pegs Nintendo 3DS for November 11th in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink   |  source@nocchisan (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments
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CUPP Hybrid PC makes dynamic duo out of ARM and x86, dubious new 'Computicator' class of device
There's a quiet war going on for the thin-and-light laptop space between ARM and x86 architectures. Intel and AMD are winning handily right now, thanks to their ability to run Windows, but there's still that small hope within the industry that a Good Enough Linux build will come along one day and rescue these power-sipping ARM platforms from obscurity. Well, CUPP Computing would like you to have it both ways. The company's Hybrid PC, which is in a early prototype stage right now (a rather ugly stage, unfortunately, as seen above), runs an ARM A8 OMAP 3430 processor with 512MB of RAM right up next to a Core 2 Duo processor with 4GB of RAM, with both platforms sharing the 320GB HDD, 16-inch LCD, keyboard, touchpad, HDMI out, and USB plugs. A simple alt+tab command switches between the systems on the fly. It's pretty flashy, although the real use case for a device like this would more likely be to use the ARM setup as a low powered mode and then boot into Windows when necessary. Of course, Dell does exactly that at "Latitude ON" in its Latitude Z and Latitude E series, but we won't begrudge CUPP having a go at its own spin on the concept -- although if they try and push this "Computicator" classification on us it might come to blows. Check out a few video demos after the break.Continue reading CUPP Hybrid PC makes dynamic duo out of ARM and x86, dubious new 'Computicator' class of device
Permalink   |  sourceCUPP Computing  | Email this | Comments
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