Sony Xperia Play hits the UK on March 31st, thumbsticks coming never
Readers in the British Empire get ready for
Sony Ericsson's biggest UK marketing campaign ever. That's in the lead-up to the release of the
Xperia Play, a phone that we've been hearing about for so long that we'd need some pretty shocking commercials to get us all excited again. You may feel differently, though, so mark your calendars for March 31st. That's the end of the month and falls in nicely with the "
late March" word we'd heard for elsewhere in the world, though that is
awfully late. As to where you can buy it, it's said that "all the mobile operators and retailers" will have it, so you shouldn't have to wander too far. And, with six games pre-installed, you should even be reasonably well equipped to kill the rest of that Thursday.
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Symbian UI overhaul scheduled for the fall?
While Symbian might be
good as dead to most Engadget readers, Nokia must continue supporting the millions of
S^ wearing faithful until it can fully transition to a Windows Phone smartphone shop
in 2012. So we were interested to hear Marc Driessen, Nokia Benelux product manager, spill some details about a few previously unannounced Symbian updates for 2011. As you'll recall, S^4 as a product had been
canned months ago, but the
scheduled UI updates were still part of the Symbian roadmap. According to Driessen, Nokia is targeting a
major UI overhaul in the fall, an update rumored to include a dedicated pull-down status bar up top; new iconography; new flexible widgets; a simplified navigation bar below; and better menus throughout that don't require a scuba suit to navigate. While Nokia HQ won't confirm the dates or details to us (we asked), the fall timeline does match with what we've heard elsewhere. Dutch site
All About Phones is also reporting that a smaller update for N8 and E7 users might come as early as this summer. Of course, those owners are still waiting for the
first real S^3 update that was promised for early 2011, so hopefully Nokia can squeeze in the split screen text input, portrait QWERTY, and improved browser before March is done.
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Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, only supports Honeycomb at release
Contrary to reports floating about the web, the
Motorola Xoom isn't getting Adobe Flash Player 10.2 today -- rather, the tablet is
getting updated to support Flash, which will
actually arrive in one week. Adobe now says that a beta of Flash Player 10.2 will be ready to download from the Android Market on March 18th, supporting only Honeycomb tablets (in other words, just the Xoom) to start, and will eventually be available for Android 2.2 smartphones -- again, contrary to
what we'd been told, but we can't really complain on that count. Froyo devices won't get the full battery-friendly
Stage Video rendering pipeline and deep browser integration like their Honeycomb tablet brethren, but dual-core phones will reportedly see a performance improvement nonetheless, and there's a new tweak that'll let Flash web apps pull up a virtual keyboard if needed for full functionality. PR after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, only supports Honeycomb at release
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Read it Later Pro hits Android, we go hands-on
We've all been there, cruising through some news in a browser only to think "Man, I don't have time for this whole article." At that point you have two options: type "tl;dr" in the article's comments and smugly move on with your life, or call upon one of the many services that let you cache content for later perusal. Read it Later Pro is one of the more popular ones and, with support for a flurry of platforms, it makes it easy to start reading one thing at one place and later pick up that thing at some other place. With the release of an
Android version you now have even more places at your disposal. We pulled this $.99 new addition from the
Android Market and gave it a spin.
Continue reading Read it Later Pro hits Android, we go hands-on
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Kinect hacked for home automation, does your mood lighting for you (video)
Microsoft's Kinect has become quite the hacking hotbed -- the fields of
medicine,
music, and even
shadow puppeteering have all benefitted from the peripheral's incredible versatility. And now, to the delight of
home automation nerds everywhere, an enterprising young hacker has rigged a Kinect to automate the lighting in his home. By positioning the camera bar in a corner to track his movements, connecting it to the automation controller, and coding on / off commands, he's able to control the lights throughout his geektastic domicile. The automation logic then turns on the lights when entering the room, localizes them according to location, and turns them off upon leaving. One less thing to worry about -- here's hoping a method for spotting our perpetually misplaced keys is in version 2.0. Vid's after the break.
Continue reading Kinect hacked for home automation, does your mood lighting for you (video)
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Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile!
Here's your classic case of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Microsoft's Innovation Labs have just demonstrated a OneVision Video
Recognizer algorithm that's powerful enough to perform face detection duties on a running video feed. It can
recognize and
track humanoid visages even while they're moving, accept tags that allow auto-identification of people as they enter the frame, and can ultimately lead to some highly sophisticated video editing and indexing via its automated information gathering. Of course, it's that very ease with which it can keep a watchful eye on everyone that has us feeling uneasy right now, but what are you gonna do? Watch the video after the break, that's what.
Continue reading Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile!
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Mindstorms NXT battle bot shoots bricks, breaks hearts (video)
There's so much to love about Martijn Hellemans'
Mindstorms NXT battle tank: it sports independent suspension, cruise control, LED headlights, laser sighting, and a high velocity brick cannon. What's more, it's controlled by a PSP-Nx remote, but you know what we really love about this Mindstorms battle bot? It gets down to the smooth jazz -- and here we thought we were smitten with
NXT Wall-E. Check out a video of our new Lego love, complete with quiet storm accompaniment, after the break.
Continue reading Mindstorms NXT battle bot shoots bricks, breaks hearts (video)
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Nintendo rolls a 3DS Demo Pod across US, gets gamers salivating for March 27th launch
The perks of living in a big city, eh? Citizens of Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco are being treated to some three-dimensional March madness from the guys and gals at Nintendo. For the remainder of this month, Ninty's
3DS handheld will be available to try and play in so-called Demo Pods (see above) at strategic locations in each marquee city. The Mii Maker app,
nintendogs + cats,
Madden NFL Football,
Aslphalt 3D, and a selection of other games will be preloaded and waiting for you, letting you have a taste of what's to come on
March 27th. See Nintendo's PR after the break for the full details.
Continue reading Nintendo rolls a 3DS Demo Pod across US, gets gamers salivating for March 27th launch
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Sony, Subaru, and Toyota close factories in wake of earthquake, other companies check in
Our thoughts this morning are with the folks in Japan and the other Pacific areas affected by the massive 8.9 earthquake that struck about 230 miles East of Tokyo. Reports of damage are flooding in from the country, and indeed many familiar manufacturers are checking in.
Sony and
Toyota have both stopped operations in their factories due to damage. Tragically, one
Honda worker lost his life after a wall collapsed, while several
Panasonic workers are said to have suffered minor injuries. It remains to be seen exactly what impacts this will have on consumers, but Sony's closed factories were responsible for the production of Blu-ray discs and batteries, while the numerous automotive shutdowns could result in short-term shortages. This bad news sent stocks downward, with German share prices for Sony dropping 2.5 percent and Honda 4.5 percent. We're still watching with concern to see what other impacts the resultant tsunamis could have, but for now we'll keep hoping for the best.
Update: Some
further news from
Smarthouse, which indicates that Sharp's new
10G LCD plant in Sakai City shut itself down automatically upon first signs of a quake. Hooray for technology.
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Klipsch speakers coming to Alienware's 3D-enabled M17x gaming laptop
Altec Lansing
does it, as does
Harman Kardon. Oh, and lest we forget about
Beats. We're talking about companies that have gone the extra mile (and paid a certain price) to get their speakers into the shells of laptops, and now the fine folks at Alienware are grabbing a top-tier name of their own:
Klipsch. Despite being
snapped up by Audiovox a few months ago, the outfit's powering ahead with an apparent plan for expansion. Today, Alienware's launching its first-ever Klipsch-equipped laptop, the 3D-enabled
M17x. Not only will buyers find Intel's newest Sandy Bridge CPUs, a 1080p 3D panel, custom lighting controls and an HDMI input, but they'll also be gifted with a set of Klipsch drivers and MaxxAudio 3 software from Waves. Hard to say if the partnership will soon bleed over to even more of Alienware's machines, but all logical signs are pointing to "yes." As for this guy? It'll ship this month starting at $1,499.
Continue reading Klipsch speakers coming to Alienware's 3D-enabled M17x gaming laptop
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BMW i8 prototype caught on video having fun in the snow
Grainy pictures are pretty neat, but spy videos of an unreleased car in motion are a little more titillating. That's what we have this morning, video of the
BMW i8 concept car motoring around in the snow -- flanked by a series of rather more pedestrian Bavarian autos. The i8 is the auto formerly known as
Vision EfficientDynamics, name shortened but concept kept the same: 62MPG from a vehicle that's still fun to drive and reasonably quick -- 0 to 62 in 4.8 seconds. The quality of the footage is perhaps a little low, but if anything that just adds to the excitement.
Continue reading BMW i8 prototype caught on video having fun in the snow
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Google reacts to Japanese tsunami with a Person Finder tool
Now this is the sort of activity you'd expect from a true search giant. Instead of sitting on its hands during the tsunami that has stricken Japan today, Google has put together a Person Finder tool where people worried about the plight of their loved ones can look them up by name. There are only a few thousand records up on the site at the moment, but it should still be a useful repository for missing person data, particularly since mobile networks were taken down by the tsunami's damage earlier this morning. Information should also start piling up as recovery efforts continue. Let's just hope this Person Finder won't have to be used for too long and things can be brought back to normal soon.
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PlayStation Suite coming to Tegra 2 devices
NVIDIA's
Tegra Zone app, freshly launched
this month, has become the source for a nifty little bit of Sony-related news: the
PS Suite that is currently slated to deliver PlayStation One games to the
Xperia Play is coming to Tegra 2 devices. Of course, if you're keeping up with your
Sony tablet exclusives, you'd already know that the company's expected to unveil a Tegra 2 slate this year, so don't go assuming that your Xoom will necessarily get the PlayStation Certified badge.
On a separate note, we're also hearing this expansion of supported hardware will be followed up with the eventual addition of PlayStation 2 games to the Suite. Those are clearly not on the immediate horizon and we suspect Sony might be waiting for
quad-core mobile chips -- such as the one within its upcoming
NGP -- to hit the market before rolling the last-gen console's wares out to pockets and messenger bags across the world.
[Thanks, Onno]
Update: Upon further investigation, we've been unable to confirm the claim about PS2 games being on Sony's PS Suite roadmap.
Android and Me reports it to have come from NVIDIA, but the original Tegra Zone post makes no reference to PS2 games. We've updated the post to reflect this.
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Purdue researchers make solar cell manufacturing cheaper, more efficient with lasers
Is there anything
lasers can't do? We only ask because they seem to be improving everything from
microphones to
railroads, and now researchers from Purdue University have leveraged the power of light to better manufacture solar cells. Using an ultrashort (as in quadrillionths of a second) pulse laser to more precisely scribe the microchannels connecting
thin-film solar cells -- as compared to current mechanical stylus methods -- the Boilermakers were able to improve energy transfer efficiency between cells and significantly reduce manufacturing time. Having demonstrated the process works, research continues to better understand and prepare it for use by manufacturers -- sooner rather than later, we hope.
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EX trike powered by dual electric screwdrivers, designed by eccentrics
We've seen some pretty wild-looking means of transportation in our day -- the FOF-inducing
BMW Flymag concept and
Airbike 3D-printed nylon bicycle, for example -- and now comes a vehicle that practically defies description: the EX. In what can only be described as over-engineering run amok, this custom-built three-wheeler is powered by two electric screwdrivers and can hurtle one brave soul headfirst down the road at speeds up to 30km/h (almost 19mph for those using
real units of measure). The joint connecting the front and rear portions of the frame lets riders steer with "organically floating movement" that leans the driver into every turn -- hopefully the handling is a bit more predictable than the trike's design. So, if you're lining up to buy one in a parallel universe, there's just one question left to answer... Philips or flat-head?
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Hanson Robokind puts a familiar Frubber face on robotic research (video)
He did it! As promised way back in 2007,
David Hanson has turned his little
Astro Boy-like Zeno robot loose upon our delicate planet. But Zeno is just one of four face options available for the Hanson Robokind -- the "almost human robot" considered "the best robot on the market" by its maker. In addition to the fully expressive Zeno, Alice, and Einstein (yes,
that Einstein) faces, Hanson is also offering the static-faced Geo with fully functional eyes. Each face features Hanson's Frubber biometric skin that contracts and folds to simulate the action of your own flesh-coated facial muscles to create "millions" of possible expressions. These expressions are assisted by natural eyelid actions covering a pair of independently moving eyes, each equipped with 720p @ 30fps cameras for binocular stereo-vision. Rounding out the specs is a complete suite of sensors, microphones, optional Maxon motors, and an embedded computer with open source OS. Hanson's also working on a complete SDK it hopes to release ASAP. Prices start at $8,500 (model R-20) for a static body with motorized head on up to $14,750 (model R-50) for a maxed-out model with fully expressive head and walking body capable of 33 degrees of freedom. And hey, if you buy five expressive faces you'll get one interchangeable walking body for free. Now, get ready to get up close and personal with the entire Hanson family after the break.
Continue reading Hanson Robokind puts a familiar Frubber face on robotic research (video)
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Intel Turbo Boost is MIA on new 13-inch MacBook Pro?
If you were expecting your
new 13-inch MacBook Pro's
Core i7 CPU to Turbo Boost its way north of that default 2.7GHz clock speed, we ask that you kindly discontinue your anticipation. Two separate reviews of the laptop are reporting the curious case of its Core i7-2620M processor failing to automatically overclock itself the way it should. Intel's dual-core chip is
capable of a maximum speed of 3.4GHz, but reviewers weren't able to get it any higher than its stock setting while testing Apple's latest 13-incher. High temperatures were identified (north of 90C / 194F) as the likely culprit, with
Notebook Journal also finding its machine
throttled down to 798MHz due to heat dissipation issues.
PC Pro theorizes that Apple intentionally disabled the Turbo Boost functionality on this particular MBP model in order to preserve your lap and your pride from being scalded by melting components. That would make sense to us, and hey, it's still a fast machine, just not
Turbo fast.
[Thanks, Markus]
Update: AnandTech's
findings contradict the above, with Anand asserting that "there's absolutely no funny business going on here, the dual-core 2.7 is allowed to hit its maximum frequencies." Seems like we'll need to keep digging to get to the bottom of this one.
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LG woos Sony while it battles with Samsung over which 3D is best
The fight between the active shutter glasses 3D technology favored by TV manufacturers like Samsung, Panasonic and Sony against the
Film Pattern Retarder (FPR) passive glasses 3D technology being pushed by LG got uglier this week. The
Wall Street Journal points out LG's print ads currently running in Korea (they could be running here already, but we'd have to read physical magazines or newspapers to know for sure) claim that unlike the competition, it will work even when viewers lay down on their sides, though the effect may be slightly weakened. Samsung responded by citing experts recommending keeping your head horizontal to watch 3D since the cameras used to film it are aligned horizontally, and an executive apparently called LG's engineers "stupid" at a press conference, although reports of a "yo mama so fat" diss could not be confirmed.
Of course, since these are the world's two biggest TV manufacturers, they sell to end users and other manufacturers like Sony, which
Reuters reports LG is waiting to hear from about using its technology in the future.
Sony and Samsung are already tight when it comes to LCD manufacturing but it's obvious LG is looking for a few more friends to line up alongside
Vizio, Toshiba and Philips (which just announced its latest displays
using active and passive glasses.) But back to the end users for a moment, if anyone's going to buy any of these 3DTVs, it may be wise to start selling consumers on why the feature is worthwhile at all and pointing out the growing amount of content -- this week's Big East basketball tournament,
Killzone 3, the NBA Finals or Blu-ray 3D releases like
Tron: Legacy -- before folks decide just
waiting for 4D would be the wisest choice.
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Sony readying NGP for November 11th European release?
Sony's Jack Tretton told us the company intended to launch the
Next Generation Portable in "at least one territory" by the end of 2011, and now we might know which one --
MCVUK reports that the quad-core, OLED-equipped handheld may arrive in Europe first, and on November 11th specifically. While it's probably a little too early to drop the hammer on a specific date -- even one as rhetorically pleasing as 11/11/11 -- the publication's anonymous sources say that "development deadlines have been set to ensure key Western releases are finished before the end of the summer for deployment in the autumn." Plenty of time to drop euros in your piggy bank.
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EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win has 'double the win,' becomes NVIDIA's first dual-Fermi graphics card
Why, it was only yesterday that we were eyeballing a
dual-GF104 board from Galaxy, presuming it an artifact of a 2010 project that went nowhere, but there's at least one NVIDIA partner that's going to deliver exactly such a creation, and soon at that! EVGA has just set loose the details of a new GTX 460 2Win graphics card, which ticks along at 700MHz, has 672 cumulative CUDA cores served by 2GB of GDDR5, and reportedly collects more 3D Marks than NVIDIA's finest card out at the moment, the
GTX 580. The company also gleefully reports that pricing of the 2Win model will be lower than the 580's. It's interesting that NVIDIA is opting for a pair of the older-gen GF104 Fermi chips here, but then again, those have been
big winners with critics and price-sensitive gamers alike, with many touting the use of two GTX 460s in SLI as a more sensible solution than the elite single-card options. Well, now you have
both, in a manner of speaking. Skip past the break to see EVGA's latest in the flesh.
[Thanks, Ben]
Continue reading EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2Win has 'double the win,' becomes NVIDIA's first dual-Fermi graphics card
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Apple doubles down on in-app purchasing security in iOS 4.3, password now required
As you might recall, a
certain game was racking up credit card bills because of its
in-app purchases -- something which probably resulted in some angry parents (or as the folks in Finland say, "birds"). In
Apple's latest
iOS update, a feature has been implemented that requires the user to input their password whenever an in-app purchase is made. Will this new security measure actually prevent those children from purchasing hundreds worth of virtual fruit? A big boon for grown-ups, a big downer for those who no longer have an excuse to explain their Smurfberry obsession.
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Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting
While Democrats and Republicans squabble over the
future of the incandescent light bulb, a Livermore-based company has produced an LED that they claim could lead to brighter, more affordable solid state lighting. By growing gallium nitride on low-cost silicon wafers, as opposed to the typical sapphire and silicon carbide substrates, the company has achieved an output of 135lm/W (lumens per watt) with a color correlated temperature of 4730K-- brighter than any affordable
LED lighting solution we've ever seen. Of course, this isn't the first time efficacy of this level has been achieved, and we've yet to see a practical application, but if Bridgelux's numbers are right, this could mean a 75 percent cut in LED production costs. The company expects the technology to make its way to real world lights in the next two to three years -- perhaps by then the furor over pigtail light bulbs will have settled a bit. Enlightening PR after the break.
Continue reading Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting
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Yahoo Mail gets IMAP patch, Windows Phone 7 data consumption catches a break
Yahoo had been pegged a few weeks ago as
the culprit behind excessive data usage on
Windows Phone 7 devices, sending far more information in replies to requests from the phone than necessary -- not really a big deal for those on unlimited data plans, but a legitimate cause for concern if you've got a data cap and overage to worry about (as more and more customers on AT&T do these days). Well, turns out Yahoo went ahead and updated its IMAP servers at some point in the last few days, fixing the issue and more or less obliterating the ravenous gobbling of kilobytes. If you don't use Yahoo... well, this is of little concern, but for the rest of you -- whether you're on a Windows Phone, an iPhone, or pretty much anything else with a limited bucket -- this should be music to your ears.
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Ask Engadget: best home backup solution?
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 Michel, who seems to be having difficulty sleeping without a decent backup solution in his home. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at
ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"It's been 6 years since the last Ask Engadget article on best home backup solution. Is there a good update yet? It's for PC, and I need to be able to disconnect the hard drive and plug it in, and navigate the folders like on my main PC. Thanks!"
Home backup solutions have come a long way over the years, but having one that also funtions as a conventional external drive cuts down your options somewhat. We're guessing this fellow is looking for something more akin to a
Clickfree drive rather than a 5-bay NAS, so if you've got any recommendations in that area, shout 'em out in comments below.
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Motorola Xoom update rolling out starting tonight, brings 'required enhancements' for Flash 10.2
In the spirit of issuing software updates with the sole purpose of
preparing for more software updates, Motorola says there's about to be some brand new firmware for the Xoom, which will cross the Ts and dot the Is required to install the promised
Adobe Flash Player 10.2. The company doesn't say when, exactly, to expect Flash, only that it's "coming soon," but the update will also fix a bug with Daylight Savings Time, which -- given
recent history -- should find itself richly welcomed. If you're paying Verizon for 3G bandwidth, you can expect an OTA update in the days to come.
[Thanks, Bob, Jake and Oscar]
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GM looking to offer lower-cost, shorter-range Volt?
We've certainly had some complaints about the
Chevrolet Volt, including
mediocre highway mileage, but far and away it's that $41,000 MSRP keeping it from being a real contender for mass adoption. Now we're hearing rumors that GM is thinking about down-sizing the car's batteries in an attempt to drop that price as well. The battery pack is far and away the most expensive single component in the car and the thought is that a reduction of the pure EV range to just 20 miles (down from its current 30 - 50) could have a whopping $10,000 reduction in cost. That would mean buyers would dip into the gas tank a little sooner but be a lighter on their bank accounts -- at least in the beginning.
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Sony working on a Cyber-shot camera with 3G cellular connectivity?
If the warm, soothing waves of IEEE 802.11 are beaming down on your location, there are
certainly several ways to send pictures directly from your camera to the cloud, but Sony's reportedly prototyping a camera that won't need a single bar of WiFi to get your upload on. Our friends at
gdgt cite anonymous sources that say Sony's got a camera with a built-in 3G modem in the works, and we're not talking about a cameraphone. While Sony's cellphone CMOS
sensors may have improved,
gdgt says the prototype unit will probably be a dedicated point-and-shoot, though the publication says their moles aren't sure it's actually coming to market. If it does, though, here's hoping it comes with some
Whispernet so we don't have to foot a monthly or (perish the thought) per-picture bill!
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Canon 'excited' about Intel Thunderbolt I/O, makes no promise to support it
Would you like a
Canon professional video camera that blasts footage to an editing rig at up to ten gigabits per second? How about a consumer-grade camcorder that transfers files to your home computer at the same blazing speed? Such things might be in the pipeline at Canon, but we can't really say for sure. Today, the Japanese camera company came out in support of
Intel's Thunderbolt I/O, saying how "it will bring new levels of performance and simplicity to the video creation market," but without so much as a formal press release -- nor, in fact, a pledge to work towards any of the ultra-speedy optical gear of which we've been dreaming. Oh well, there's always next week.
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NASA says International Space Station is now 'essentially' complete
The news got a bit overlooked among the hubbub of Discovery's
final flight and the
first humanoid robot sent into space, but the recently completed shuttle mission also marked another significant milestone: it delivered the final room to the
International Space Station. While there are still some additional components to be added, the new room dubbed the "Permanent Multipurpose Module" is NASA's final contribution to the actual assembly of the station and, according to the agency, it means that it has "essentially completed" all that it had planned. The two remaining shuttle missions will just be carrying supplies and spare parts, along with a little $1.5 billion experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which will be used to search for fun stuff like antimatter galaxies and dark matter.
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Suzuki Burgman fuel-cell scooter approved for EU public consumption
Battery power gets a lot of publicity these days, what with
YikeBike and
Yogo EVs tooling around. However, that doesn't mean other kinds of ecofriendly propulsion, like fuel cells, won't be part of our transportational future. Suzuki, for one, is betting on hydrogen power -- its Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter just became the first fuel cell vehicle to receive Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) from the UK's Department of Transport. Having the WVTA stamp of approval means that the scooter meets EU performance standards and can be sold in Europe -- setting it free to frolic hither and yon on the cobblestone streets of the old country. No word on plans to bring it to the US, but a boy can dream, can't he? PR's after the break.
Continue reading Suzuki Burgman fuel-cell scooter approved for EU public consumption
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iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know
You know what tomorrow is right? Yep, Friday, but it's also
iPad 2 launch day! After months of rumors and a
pretty impressive launch event, Apple's releasing the second iteration of its popular tablet. Yes, it's true, in a lot of ways the iPad 2 is a lot like
the first iPad, so many of you should be old pros at this, but if you happen to be a first timer or you simply just need a refresher, we've broken down everything you need to know about getting your own "magical" tablet. We've also put together a short list of things to do with it as soon as you've gotten it out of the box. Hit the break for a full breakdown of everything you need to know and don't forget to read our
full review.
Continue reading iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know
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Microsoft taking 'extra time' to make sure Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update is solid, targeting late March
Eric Hautala -- the cog in the Microsoft machine responsible for
Windows Phone 7's update mechanism -- has taken to the company's official Windows Phone blog today to deep-dive on some of the concerns,
problems, and delays that have dogged the platform's updates so far. In brief, Hautala says that the glitches that hosed the small February update for a few customers has brought the company to pause and take the time to make sure everything's rock solid before proceeding with the so-called
NoDo update -- which includes copy and paste, performance improvements, and CDMA support -- and had originally been scheduled for the early part of March. Now, they're looking at "the latter half of March," which lines up with what Microsoft France had
reported yesterday. He goes on to say that the problems have zero effect on the timeline for awesome new features previewed at
MWC last month, which would seem to allay fears that the Mango update had been
pushed to 2012. Needless to say, Windows Phone's still got some catching up to do -- so that's good news.
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Best Buy knocks Nexus S down to $100 on contract for two weeks only
Had your eyes on a
Nexus S but still haven't taken the plunge? Then it looks like that indecisiveness has finally paid off, as Best Buy has now knocked a full $100 off the phone for a limited time if you're signing up for a contract. That's from today until March 23rd, to be precise, and it seems that your local Best Buy doesn't even need to be a T-Mobile dealer for you to get the deal -- you'll just have to get the phone shipped to you. Hit up the link below for all the details.
[Thanks, Kevin]
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FCC going after cellphone jammers, could land users in the slammer
The
FCC has put a bounty on the heads of all the cellphone-hating vigilantes out there. These GPS and signal
jammers are particularly popular amongst theaters, quiet restaurants and in many school systems fighting the good fight against sexting during class. The FCC is calling on folks to stop and to report their neighbors for using these devices -- reason being that they pose serious health and safety risks by interfering with 911 calls and other emergencies in the vicinity. So if you know a so-called 'jammer,' don't hesitate to file a complaint about them to the FCC -- the info can be found at the source link below.
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Aircell releases GoGo tech roadmap: EV-DO Rev B in 2012, global satellite coverage by 2015
Aircell started putting its air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband technology in planes about
three years ago, and its
GoGo in-flight internet's reach has grown ever since -- all the way up to the home of
mavericks and mama bears. Presently, the company's ambit is limited to the continental US, but that's about to change with the addition of Ka-band satellite coverage that will blanket the US in 2013 and the globe by 2015. Yes, dear readers, that means you'll be able to poke, tweet, and blog your way over international waters. Not only that, next year a new ATG-4 network using EV-DO Rev B promises four times the capacity of its trusty Rev A service we've come to know and love. The company says both upgrades are cheap and easy for carriers -- if only they were
rapid as well. PR's after the break.
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Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow resigns
Citing "personal reasons,"
Clearwire boss Bill Morrow has rather suddenly stepped down from his positions both as CEO and executive board director. Replacing him on an interim basis will be John Stanton, current chairman of the board and former CEO of VoiceStream (a company you may know better as T-Mobile USA). Now, it's no secret that Clearwire has been under a bit of pain lately -- it's scaled back its ambitious growth plans and
shelved its retail strategy, not to mention the fact that 4G partner Sprint has been seen carousing with both
LightSquared and
T-Mobile lately -- so it stands to reason that Morrow may have had a little help being shown the door. Follow the break for Clearwire's full press release.
Continue reading Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow resigns
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Samsung Galaxy S 4G review
It's only been six months since Samsung launched its highly successful
Galaxy S assault upon the US market with a series of carrier customized phones: the
Vibrant and
Captivate GSM twins for T-Mobile and AT&T, the WiMAX-rocking
Epic 4G for Sprint and the
Fascinate for Verizon. More derivatives arrived later, with the
Mesmerize,
Continuum,
Nexus S, and LTE-equipped
Galaxy Indulge. Still the Vibrant was the first, and the closest in appearance to the original Galaxy S, losing the front-facing camera, but gaining a search button. Unfortunately, Samsung was slow to upgrade early devices like the Vibrant beyond Eclair, and to fix the
well-documented AGPS problems. As such, the release of the
Samsung Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile -- basically an updated Vibrant with HSPA+, a front-facing camera, a bronze battery cover, Froyo out of the gate, but no dedicated internal flash storage -- is bittersweet. While beneficial to those who waited, it's a slap in the face to those who purchased the Vibrant. But is it a worthy upgrade? How does it fit into T-Mobile's high-end Android lineup? Read on for our full review after the break.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S 4G review
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IDC: 18 million tablets, 12 million e-readers shipped in 2010
We've already seen Apple boast that it's sold
15 million iPads in 2010 and commanded more than a 90 percent market share, but IDC has now come in and provided a broader picture of the tablet market as a whole -- and e-readers, too. Not surprisingly, it too found that the tablet industry is basically all about Apple at the moment, although its market share did dip from a whopping 93 percent in the third quarter to 73 percent in Q4, which averages out to 83 percent for the year -- all told, there were 18 million tablets sold in 2010. Things are a bit more competitive in the e-reader market -- where there were 12 million devices sold -- although Amazon is still head and shoulders above everyone else with a 48 percent share. Interestingly, it's followed not by Barnes & Noble as you might expect but by
Pandigital, which just eeked into the number two spot for Q4 (though B&N is slightly ahead for the full year).
Hanvon came in fourth based largely on strong sales in China, and Sony rounded out the top five with sales of 800,000 units in 2010. Check out the press release after the break for some additional details
Continue reading IDC: 18 million tablets, 12 million e-readers shipped in 2010
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GarageBand and iMovie come to iPad, iPhone gets iMovie refresh
If you occupy the planet Earth, you're probably aware that last week saw the
unveiling of the
iPad2. During said reveal, Steve Jobs made a couple of other, perhaps not as monumental, but no doubt
notable announcements: specifically that the new slate will offer
iMovie and
GarageBand. Well, it looks like they've decided to let the cats, or apps, as it were, out of the bag a day early. That's right, Mac movie makers and rock star hopefuls can download them
now for $5 a pop -- and, this just in, it looks like iMovie for iPhone's getting a simultaneous upgrade. If you've already started rockin' or docin', let us know what you think in the comments.
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BlackBerry PlayBook hits FCC in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB flavors
No surprises here, just the straight-up news that RIM's
BlackBerry PlayBook is one small step closer to retail: it's gotten FCC clearance. Well, at least the WiFi-only version has -- no sign of the
WiMAX-capable version for Sprint yet -- but RIM's actually sneaked all three capacities of the device through on one filing (16GB, 32GB, and 64GB). There's still quite a bit of material protected under the company's confidentiality request with the feds, so we can't see internal or external pictures or the all-important user's manual... yet. But that label document is certainly cute in blue, isn't it?
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