Mobile broadband shocker: AT&T looking at tiered data pricing and speeds for upcoming LTE service
We all know AT&T just loves its
tiered pricing models, so it's no surprise to hear that the carrier intends to turn its forthcoming
LTE service into a tier-vana of great new sophistication.
BGR has come across an internal document detailing how AT&T plans to segment its 4G pricing on the basis of both speed and data allowance, meaning that your price will reflect both the amount of data you consume and the rate at which you gobble it down. To add further
complexity flexibility, Top Ups will be available that'll allow users to amp up their connection speed for a limited time or increase their allowance on a per-month basis. We're hearing trials of this new offering will commence in May, which fits in neatly with the currently planned LTE rollout
in the second half of this year. So it's not all set in stone yet, but irrespective of the number of data options AT&T throws our way, the paramount question will always be the same: how much?
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Real-life mailbox mod tells your iPhone when you've got snail mail (video)
Do you spend your days desperately awaiting credit card bills, coupons to Pizza Hut, and reminders from your dentist's office that it's time for another cleaning? We've pared down our dependence on USPS, but for those who still get physical communications of note,
Make has developed an Arduino-based mailbox mod that sends
push notifications when the post is in. Back in 2005, we saw a clunky device called
POSTIN that did much the same thing. Thankfully, this system doesn't require an extra gadget, instead it sends messages straight to your iPhone. The postal alert system uses a snap-action switch, connected to an Arduino sensor, to signal when your mailbox is opened. A piece of code waits for the signal and then requests a URL from a PHP-enabled server, pushing an alert to your cellphone using the Prowl iPhone app. Die-hard USPS fans can check out the instructional video after the jump.
Continue reading Real-life mailbox mod tells your iPhone when you've got snail mail (video)
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How would you change Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air?
Apple may not be much on the idea of a 7-inch tablet, but an
11-inch ultraportable? Now that's an idea even the engineers in Cupertino could dig. When we reviewed the
11-inch MacBook Air, we found an awful lot to love -- that all-Flash design is definitely a boon, and the more-mobile-than-mobile design is sure to be loved by road warriors and light packers everywhere. But it's still (comparatively) sluggish, and it's lacking a backlit keyboard. Enough from us, though -- we're here to hear what kind of changes
you would make. Would you have thrown a faster chip in there at the expense of the case? Boosted the screen resolution? Added an SD card slot? Bit the bullet and tossed in USB 3.0? Comments are open below -- dive on it!
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China nationalizes eleven rare earth mines for environmental and strategic reasons
Most of our favorite gadgets are constructed with parts made of rare earth minerals, and as many of you already know, China produces the lion's share of the stuff. So news that Hu Jintao and company recently took control of 11 rare earth mines in order to more tightly manage the mines' production is of great interest to hi-tech companies and consumers the world over -- and could mean your next
hybrid,
smartphone, or
PC just got a bit more expensive. The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources indicates that nationalization of the facilities was prompted by illegal strip mining and dumping of toxic tailings in nearby waterways, but given China's
pledge to reduce rare earth exports by ten percent this year, it seems likely that the move isn't entirely driven by environmental concerns. Consumers needn't worry too much, however, as
Japan and the
US are currently searching for ways to break China's monopoly on rare earths and keep us flush in affordable flat-screen TVs and hybrid cars for years to come.
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Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video)
This isn't the first time
Kinect and
Minecraft have crossed paths -- scavenge the 'nets and you'll find plenty of user interface examples. What Nathan Viniconis has done, however, is different. What you're looking at above is rendered instantly by way of using what the Kinect sees and constructing an in-world monument in real time. Not only that, but the project has now evolved into a sort of stop motion animation. It's pretty impressive, even for those who have little to no idea what Minecraft is. All the nitty gritty details are available on the project page. The video, of course, is after the break.
Continue reading Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video)
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Android source code, Java, and copyright infringement: what's going on?
So it's been a fun day of armchair code forensics and legal analysis on the web after Florian Mueller
published a piece this morning alleging Google
directly copied somewhere between 37 and 44 Java source files in Android. That's of course a major accusation, seeing as Oracle is currently
suing Google for patent and copyright infringement related to Java, and it prompted some extremely harsh technical rebuttals, like
this one from
ZDNet and
this one from
Ars Technica. The objections in short: the files in question are test files, aren't important, probably don't ship with Android, and everyone is making a hullabaloo over nothing.
We'll just say this straight out:
from a technical perspective, these objections are completely valid. The files in question do appear to be test files, some of them were removed, and there's simply no way of knowing if any of them ended up in a shipping Android handset. But -- and this is a big
but -- that's just the technical story.
From a legal perspective, it seems very likely that these files create increased copyright liability for Google, because the state of our current copyright law doesn't make exceptions for how source code trees work, or whether or not a script pasted in a different license, or whether these files made it into handsets. The single most relevant legal question is whether or not copying and distributing these files was authorized by Oracle, and the answer clearly appears to be "nope" -- even if Oracle licensed the code under the GPL. Why? Because somewhere along the line, Google took Oracle's code, replaced the GPL language with the
incompatible Apache Open Source License, and distributed the code under that license publicly. That's all it takes -- if Google violated the GPL by changing the license, it also infringed Oracle's underlying copyright. It doesn't matter if a Google employee, a script, a robot, or Eric Schmidt's cat made the change -- once you've created or distributed an unauthorized copy, you're liable for infringement.*
Why does this matter? Because we're hearing that Oracle is dead-set on winning this case and eventually extracting a per-handset royalty on every Android handset shipped. In that context, "those files aren't important!" isn't a winning or persuasive argument -- and the more these little infringements add up, the worse things look for Google. Whether or not these files are a "smoking gun" isn't the issue -- it's whether Android infringes Oracle's patents and copyrights, since the consequences either way will be monumental and far-reaching. Ultimately, though, the only person who can resolve all of this for certain is a judge -- and it's going to take a lot more time and research to get there.
--
*They're not directly comparable, but think about the Psystar case for a second. Even though Psystar desperately wanted to argue that Apple's OS X license agreement was invalid, the judge never got there -- he simply ruled Psystar wasn't authorized to copy and distribute OS X, and swung the hammer. It really is that simple sometimes.Permalink | |
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Nexus S OTA 2.3.2 update rolling out now, your SMS relations will thank you
Embarrassing
SMS misdirect bug on your Android device?
Nexus S owners should start checking their phones now for an over-the-air update that's supposed to fix the problem. It's being rolled out gradually, so just be patient if it's not there yet. How will we know the problem's gone for good? We'll just assume so until we find out otherwise, in some unfortunate manner.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak
Wow, insider tipsters are getting
efficient! Verizon appears to have only just added Minimum Advertised Pricing for the
Motorola Xoom to its internal systems, but already it's been leaked out by more than one source.
Android Central has the damning evidence, which lists an $800 levy for any prospective owners of the
flagship Android Honeycomb device. It's accompanied by a listing of the HTC Thunderbolt at $250, with the logical conclusion being that the Moto tablet will come unsullied by subsidies while the HTC LTE handset will probably cost that much on a two-year deal. That makes plenty of sense to us -- the typical smartphone price is $200 and Verizon can point to the
4G goodness the Thunderbolt brings as justifying its $50 premium, whereas the Xoom's cost seems to be in line with the
Galaxy Tab's pricing. Now, how about some launch dates, leaksters?
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The Engadget Show returns next Sunday with Steve Wozniak!
Clear your calendars everybody, because next
Sunday, January 30th, the inimitable co-founder of Apple
Steve Wozniak will be joining us for the first Engadget Show of 2011! It will be a night to remember as Woz joins us for an evening of frank, eye-opening, and all-around awesome conversation. We'll be
streaming live at 6:00PM from
Cooper Union's Rose Auditorium and we've got about 200 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis if you want to join us in person. We'll also have music from the talented
Zen Albatross and the usual
crazy giveaways. Trust us when we say that this episode is going to be epic.
REMINDER: The Show will be taking place in a lovely
new venue, the
Rose Auditorium in Cooper Union's
New Academic Building (ie. not the TimesCenter), located in Manhattan at
41 Cooper Square. Seating is extremely limited, so get there early!
Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be
first come, first served... so get there early! Here's the updated info on our
new ticketing policy that you need to know:
- There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
- The event is all ages
- Ticketing will begin at the Cooper Union New Academic Building at 2:00PM on Sunday, January 30th, doors will open for seating at 5:15PM, and the show begins at 6:00PM
- We now have assigned seating, so the first people to get their tickets will get priority seating. This also means that once you get a ticket, your seat is guaranteed -- you won't have to get back in line to get a good seat.
- 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
Unfortunately, we won't be running the usual text-to-win sweepstakes for this episode (we know it sucks, but it's out of our hands), so if you want a seat you'll have to show up in person. 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.
Subscribe to the Show:
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Motoblur coming to Xoom as software update, still considered Google flagship product? (update)
Maybe you thought the Motorola
Xoom would be devoid of -- or dare we say, spared from -- a coat of
Motoblur. Being the inaugural
Honeycomb device, you'd expect Google to keep the tablet as vanilla as possible (e.g.
G1,
Nexus One,
Nexus S). Indeed, Android's director of engineering Dave Burke tells
CNET UK that Xoom is a flagship product for Mountain View, but in the same reported meeting, Motorola's Jonathan Nattrass said Motoblur will be coming to the tablet as a software update. In what form? We don't know, but if we had to guess, it's gonna be much more isolated that previous devices -- special widgets, perhaps, and services for backup or tracking a lost slate. Let's play wait-and-see on this one, at least until the top bar gets a cartoonish blue aesthetic.
Update: Motorola reached out to
Phandroid to say that, yes, this is a "Google Experience Device" and as such, you should expect the platform and UI to be Google's. Doesn't exactly explain where Nattrass got his talking points, but for now let's call it a strong rebuttal and move on. Certainly we'll have a clearer picture once we can actually try Xoom / Honeycomb out for ourselves.
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Apple patent application details magical mouse with a built-in display
Could the
Magic Mouse be replaced by an even more "magical" input device? It might, if a just-published Apple patent application ever results in an actual product. Described simply as a "computer input device including a display device," the application clearly details a mouse that would have both a touch-sensitive surface and a built-in display. That, the application suggestions, could open up a whole range of new input possibilities, including using the mouse as numeric keypad, a phone, a personal digital assistant, or a graphics pad, to name just a few. What's more, the nature of the collimated glass used for the mouse would also apparently allow it to display a magnified image of anything underneath, and the images displayed would seemingly appear to be directly on the surface on the mouse, and not appear to be under the glass (we're not talking about a regular capacitive touchscreen on a mouse here). Of course, all of this is still just a patent application, and Apple has a long,
long string of those that have yet to result in anything -- still, something about this one strikes us a bit more likely than, say, a
head-mounted iPhone display.
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JTT's Chobi Cam One 'micro DSLR' is sure to meet your micro expectations
Japanese retailer JTT has already proven itself to be a fan of
tiny cameras, but it's truly outdone itself with its latest offering: the Chobi Cam One. At last you'll be able to carry a DSLR in your pocket, with only some minor trade-offs in things like image quality, features, and usefulness. You can swap in your choice of three different magnetically-attached lenses, though -- and while you won't exactly get great pictures or video from the thing, you can at least store a lot of them thanks to the camera's microSD card slot. Look for the camera itself to set you back ¥9,800 (or about $118), with extra lenses running between $30 and $60 (bundles are also available).
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Hot Wheels Video Racer has a VGA camera under its hood, confirms that kids have it all
Damn kids these days and their
cool tech toys! We know we sound cranky, jealous, and old, but how are we supposed to react to Mattel's new Hot Wheels Video Racer? Yep, just as the headline reveals, everybody's favorite matchbox car is now home to a VGA video camera that can capture 30 to 60 frames per second and a .95-inch LCD that allows you to play back that recorded footage right on the belly of the tiny vehicle. While a short clip of the Video Racer flying off a self-made jump may be pretty awesome, Mattel will also include protective cases so those wild and crazy kids can mount the cam to a skateboard or helmet. Disappointingly, the small car only houses 512MB of storage, which can only hold 12 minutes of video, but at $60, Mattel also includes a rubberized mini USB to USB cord for connecting the cam to a Mac or PC and child-friendly editing software. The Video Racer won't actually peel out until the fall, but we managed to take a few shots of the little thing this week and nab some video of it while at CES. Hit the break for that video and start saving that allowance!
Continue reading Hot Wheels Video Racer has a VGA camera under its hood, confirms that kids have it all
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Sony Reader app finally available for Android, only works with 2.2 and higher
Well, it's about time! We knew Sony was prepping some
Reader apps to go along with its physical
Pocket,
Daily, and
Touch Edition e-readers, and while it may have missed that
December release date, the Android version of the app is now available in the Market. The free app is pretty much what you'd expect -- you can log in with your username and it automatically syncs previously purchased books, and like the e-readers, it also supports ePub and PDF formats. In addition, you can easily highlight text and adjust font and brightness settings right from the page you're reading. We downloaded the app and found it to be pretty decent, however, the Store shortcut launches within the browser rather than in the app. Ready for the twisted part? Sony has confirmed for us that the app will only work with handsets that run Android 2.2 and higher, which is incredibly ironic considering most
Sony Ericsson handsets are, you know, still
stuck with 2.1. Of course, it looks like that
PlayStation Phone will work just fine when it's finally released, but that's neither here nor there -- hit the gallery for a pile of screenshots of the app.
Updated: Sony just let us know that the iOS version is still pending Apple's approval, but it should be available soon.
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Samsung Vibrant's Android 2.2 update now available, it seems
As promised, it seems that T-Mobile's version of the
Vibrant is getting
Froyo today after a brutally long wait. The good news is that you won't need to wait for a staggered rollout, apparently -- but the bad news is that currently you'll need to get it using Samsung's Kies Mini PC app, not over-the-air. Tethered updates are always less convenient than their OTA equivalents (though Samsung continues to be particularly fond of them), and in the case of Kies Mini, there's no Mac version, so you'll need to be near a Windows machine to make it happen. This hasn't been officially announced yet, though commenters over on
TmoNews appear to be having luck -- so if you give it a go, let us know how you fare.
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HTC profits leaping and bounding up, Peter Chou promises tablet and production expansion
HTC's fourth quarter of 2010 has gone exactly the same way as
the first three: the company reports a 160 percent rise in profits (to $500 million) year-on-year and a 31 percent increase relative to Q3 2010. Total revenue for the final three months of last year rounded the $3.5 billion mark, having been a trifling $1.4 billion the year before. Company CEO Peter Chou sees no end to this dramatic growth, forecasting it'll remain in double digits through 2011, and he plans to match up to it by doubling monthly production capacity at HTC's Shanghai plant to two million handsets. If necessary, he says he'll even outsource manufacturing. Even more intriguing, however, is Chou's admission that HTC is strategizing
an entry into the tablet realm: "It's a new market with many competitors, and we don't want to rush into it." Hardly a surprise, but good to have it from the horse's mouth.
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Toshiba launches Flashy tablet teaser site, still doesn't have a name for said tablet
Nope, Toshiba's recently announced
Android 3.0 tablet doesn't have a name yet, but it
does have its own Flash-based website. The site doesn't reveal anything all that new about the device -- we already knew it had a
Tegra 2 processor, replaceable battery, and a 1280 x 800-resolution, 10.1-inch display -- however, it does provide a pretty nice tour of the tablet with a 360 view of the hardware. Speaking of that tour, Toshiba specifically points out that the tablet will in fact keep those "Quick-Key buttons," even though
Google's Matias Duarte told us that they aren't required. You still have to wait until the spring to get this one in hand, but hit the source link to get a pretty nice virtual look at it right now.
Updated: Ah, it really is all about Flash, isn't Toshiba? Ina Fried over at
AllThingsD noticed that if you try and load Toshiba's new tablet site on an iOS device the following message appears: "Such a shame... if you had a Toshiba Tablet you would enjoy the entire internet. Yep, Flash sites too." That's true Toshiba, but we don't have your tablet right now, do we?
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Evidence of Duke Nukem Forever's existence continues to mount with new trailer, release date
Gearbox Software promised
last fall that they'd finally, really finish and release
Duke Nukem Forever, and it's starting to look like they're actually going to come through. The studio has just released a full trailer for the game, and it's announced something that many though they'd never see: a release date. Assuming nothing goes horribly awry in the next few months, you can expect the game to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on May 3rd in North America, and May 6th worldwide. Still need a bit more convincing? Head on past the break for the trailer.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Evidence of Duke Nukem Forever's existence continues to mount with new trailer, release date
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Health care and aeronautics industries agree that FCC should set aside bandwidth for dedicated remote patient monitoring system
Mobile body area network (MBAN) technology has the potential to be a boon to the healthcare system of the future by enabling remote patient monitoring through disposable wireless devices -- meaning fewer doctor visits for everyone and great news for latrophobes. Until now, MBAN was opposed by the Aerospace & Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council (AFTRCC) because it utilizes the same radio bands that aircraft manufacturers do when they're testing new planes. AFTRCC didn't want all that medical chatter "polluting their spectrum" but decided to get on board with MBAN when the health care industry promised to create a way to stop signals that disrupt aeronautical traffic. MBAN is a part of the
FCC's National Broadband Plan and purports to use short-length radio waves (not unlike
Bluetooth) in the 2300 and 2400 MHz range to transmit physiological info to treating physicians -- as opposed to other patient monitors that use
web-based communications. MBAN would initially be used in hospitals but could later find its way into residential use by employing home entertainment systems (
Wii Fit integration, here we come!) to collect and transmit data. With the FCC expected to decide on the final rules for MBAN later this year, the
Intel Health Guide may have some company in the at-home patient monitoring business. We can only hope that the next time the aeronautic and health care industries combine forces, it will take the form of jetpack-wearing doctors making house calls.
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Control4, Sub-Zero get in on the home automation game
While brands like
LG,
Samsung, and
Kenmore all showed off their own special brand of Jetsonian appliances at CES this year, Sub-Zero was close by touting a stable of 30 automation-ready products and a partnership with
Control4 that could make them a contender for home automation domination. Sub-Zero's
ZigBee-based system uses preexisting serial ports (initially installed for diagnostic purposes) to connect users to appliances via touchscreens, smart phones, and other enabled devices. The system lacks full control of potentially dangerous appliances like the oven, instead acting as an alert system when, say, your turkey is done roasting, but it does grant complete access to things like your refrigerator or freezer. Other systems might sport increased functionality, like
LG's Thinq, which allows users to set oven temperatures remotely, and
Samsung's fridge, which lets you tweet from a built-in touchscreen, but Sub-Zero is hoping a second-quarter release will put them at the head of the pack. We'll see if a head start makes a difference in the glacial appliance market, when Samsung rolls out its smart refrigerator this May and Kenmore's system comes to fruition in 2012.
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Emblaze First Else UX engineer embraced by HP / Palm, magic ensues
Remember that day when Emblaze wowed the world with its
First Else "death of main menu" smartphone? What a
shame, eh? While it's unlikely that said
Linux handset will ever be resurrected, there's a small chance that bits of its legacy will be passed onto other products. For instance, a recent LinkedIn newsletter led us to one Itai Vonshak who was the lead designer behind the First Else's brilliant, mesmerizing UI. Now, according to his profile, our man has recently moved into HP /
Palm's comfy little house to do UX strategy. Whether this means
webOS will get a slice of that
Minority Report action, we don't know; but it'll be interesting to see what Vonshak will surprise us with at the HP / Palm
event next month. For now, there's a hands-on video of the First Else after the break for old time's sake.
Continue reading Emblaze First Else UX engineer embraced by HP / Palm, magic ensues
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iOS 4.3 beta suggests iPad 2 has one megapixel rear camera
"The
iPad 2 has a camera." We know, it feels
all but certain at this point (even when it's far from official), but perhaps we can expand on that quoted assertion further. Like everyone else who can laugh at Objective-C jokes,
9 to 5 Mac has been digging through the latest iOS SDK and found some data referring to K94, which it claims is the codename for the next-generation iPad. (For reference,
the original iPad was K48.) Anyway, within that code lies a string reference to "Back Facing 1MP Photo." Going further, the front-facing camera is reportedly VGA -- same as the iPhone, same as the iPod touch. It's unclear if the also-found
"K95" files also included the the same data, or what exactly that codename might be, but if you're the betting sort, feel free to say, "the iPad 2's megapixel mullet is 0.3 up front, 1 in the back." It's still a gamble until Apple unveils it with a puff of virtual smoke on a presentation slide.
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Vudu 2.0 interface moves beyond PS3 & Boxee Box, now available on most TVs, Blu-ray players
Just shy of a month after it
launched on the PlayStation 3 and days after
debuting on Boxee's Box, the new
Vudu 2.0 interface is live on most TVs and Blu-ray players with access to the service. Check out our earlier gallery if you're not familiar with the new look, it should be identical across the lineup (sans-Move support of course) with recommendations, enhanced sharing options and optimized for HD. For now it looks like the Yahoo! Widgets based Samsung and
Vizio versions are the only ones still lagging but they're on deck for an update "soon."
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Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and Clubsport pedals review
Sim racing keeps on moving toward higher-end accessories, while there have always been top-shelf components available to the hardcore, games like
Gran Turismo 5 are encouraging more and more people to want a more and more realistic driving experience.
Fanatec has been delivering that experience for years and its $250
Porsche 911 GT2 is the company's latest and highest-end product, offering a luxurious Alcantara covering, the obligatory 900 degrees of rotation, and full compatibility with force feedback for the PC,
Xbox 360, and
PlayStation 3. Fanatec was also kind enough to send us a set of its $200 Clubsport pedals to hit the virtual road with. Click on through to see how we did.
Continue reading Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and Clubsport pedals review
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AT&T offering free MicroCells to top 7.5 percent of customers 'likely to experience poor in-building coverage'
We've known that AT&T has been
test-marketing free
3G MicroCells to subscribers with particularly awful reception in certain parts of the country since the product launched last year, but as of January 23rd, they're codifying the offer and taking it nationwide. Bottom line: the "top 7.5 percent of 3G wireless customers identified as likely to experience poor in-building coverage at home or in small offices" will be receiving some snail mail with a discount code; bring it into an AT&T store and you'll be offered a gratis MicroCell. There's a catch, though -- you need to agree to a one-year contract on the unit (separate from your normal account contract), so if you cancel service within that year, you need to either return the MicroCell or get charged $199.99 minus $16.67 per month that you've had it. Of course, that lines up with the
newly-increased MicroCell price that the carrier is instituting starting this Sunday. Considering that AT&T needs to acknowledge that you're in a terrible reception area to get it, we can't say we'd
hope to be one of the "lucky" 7.5 percent -- but it's a nice benefit nonetheless.
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Galaxy Tab gets 1.2GHz overclock, very scary warning
It's here, what looks to be the world's first attempt at overclocking a Samsung
Galaxy Tab. User Bauxite at the always happening
xda-developers forums has posted the way to boosting Samsung's hunk of burning Android up to 1.2GHz -- along with some seriously stern warnings:
THIS KERNEL MAY NOT WORK ON YOUR DEVICE, MIGHT DESTROY YOUR DEVICE, MIGHT PUNCH YOUR CHILDREN, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS KERNEL, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
Initial user reports are generally positive but, given the risk and the complexity here we think we'll be staying at the stock 1GHz speed. For now, anyway.
[Thanks, Alain]
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Estimated Dell Streak 7 price incorrect according to T-Mobile, honest to gosh MSRP coming soon
We can do math, simple addition and multiplication anyway, but we have our doubts about
T-Mobile. It seemed like a fairly straightforward thing to multiply $82.50 by four and take the result to
determine the cost of the
Dell Streak 7, but good 'ol T-Mo says that was the result of a "technical error" and actually has no relevance to the MSRP of this here tablet. What
is the actual price? Sadly we're still just as much in the dark as you.
Update: This is of course a T-Mobile story, not Verizon, despite what the title original stated.
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Oops: Android contains directly copied Java code, strengthening Oracle's case (updated)
Florian Mueller has been killing it these past few months with his analysis of various tech patent suits on his
FOSSpatents blog, and today he's unearthed a pretty major bombshell: at least 43 Android source files that appear to have been directly copied from Java. That's a big deal, seeing as
Oracle is currently suing Google for patent and copyright infringement in Android -- which isn't a hard case to prove when you've got 37 Android source files marked "PROPRIETARY / CONFIDENTIAL" and "DO NOT DISTRIBUTE" by Oracle / Sun and at least six more files in Froyo and Gingerbread that appear to have been decompiled from Java 2 Standard Edition and redistributed under the Apache open source license without permission. In simple terms? Google copied Oracle's Java code, pasted in a new license, and shipped it.
Now, we've long thought
Google's odd response to Oracle's lawsuit seemingly acknowledged some infringement, so we doubt this is a surprise in Mountain View, but we're guessing handset vendors aren't going to be so thrilled -- especially since using Android has already caused companies like
HTC and
Motorola to be hit with major patent lawsuits of their own. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime you should definitely hit up Florian's site for the full dirt -- it's some 47 pages worth of material, and it's dense, but if you're into this sort of thing it's incredibly interesting.
Update: It appears things aren't this simple, but they're still not great.
Check here for the latest.
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Dealers holding MyFord Touch classes for confused car owners
To us,
MyFord Touch is a great way to manage your auto: four-way controllers on the steering wheel for navigating through simple, color-coded menus; a central touch panel; even voice recognition so that you can live out those Michael Knight fantasies. However, some folks, folks who apparently didn't spend their childhoods mashing thumbs into D-pads, are finding it all a little confusing.
Consumer Reports recently railed against the system and
Ford is looking to make the transition from knobs to buttons a little easier. Many dealers now offering tutorial sessions that owners of Touch-equipped cars can attend, a 45 minute thrill ride that'll let you and your salesman get just that much closer. Because, really, after we finally finish haggling and sign the paperwork there's nothing we want to do more than spend another hour in the dealership.
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Freep |
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Minimalist Turnstyle spins your vinyl with zero excess
Turntables? We've seen a few:
big and
small,
professional and
decidedly amateur, but nothing quite like the Turnstyle. The idea here is to be "as simple as it gets," the bare minimum elements required to spin and read the record and play back the audio. This is what designer R.D. Silva came up with: motor in the middle, pivoting arm on the right, and controls and speaker on the bottom. We're thinking it won't be replacing your Goldmund for delivering the hi-fi tonality you crave, but it certainly is easy on the eyes.
Permalink Yanko Design |
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Mitsubishi launching eight electrified vehicles by 2015
Mitsu's
i MiEV may be getting off to a
slow start, but it's just the beginning. The company has announced a number of programs collectively titled "Environment Initiative Program 2015," a sort of stepping stone toward a broader reaching "Environmental Vision 2020." That Vision indicates a desire to have 20 percent of Mitsubishi sales be either pure electric vehicles or at least plug-in hybrids. The 2015 initiative sets a more modest goal of five percent, and to get there the company will launch a whopping eight electro-augmented vehicles between now and 2015. It starts with a commercialized MiEV this year, moving to two PHEVs next year, a new EV in 2013, and then another new EV in 2014 -- hopefully with names that roll off the tongue a little better than "i MiEV." Might we suggest the 2014 Mitsubishi Mitueevee?
Permalink Green Car congress |
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Scientists create 10 billion qubits in silicon, get us closer than ever to quantum computing
We are totally ready for a quantum computer. Browse the
dusty Engadget archives and you'll find many posts about the things, each charting another step along the way to our supposed quantum future. Here's another step, one that we think is a pretty big one. An international team of scientists has managed to generate 10 billion quantum entangled bits, the basic building block of a quantum computer, and embed them all in silicon which is, of course, the basic building block of a boring computer. It sounds like there's still some work to be done to enable the team to actually modify and read the states of those qubits, and probably a decade's worth of thumb-twiddling before they let any of us try to run
Crysis on it, but yet another step has been made.
[Image credit:
Smite-Meister]
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Tesla confirms plans to unveil electric Model X SUV this year, $30k car by 2015
We've known for some time that
Tesla hoped to use the underpinnings of the luscious
Model S as a base platform upon which other cars would be built, even
minivans. Elon Musk in the past has mentioned a Model X SUV due sometime in 2014 and he's just re-confirmed that we'll be getting our first glimpse of the thing sometime this year. Few further details are known but we wouldn't be surprised if it shared some components with the Tesla-powered
Toyota RAV4 EV. Musk also took the opportunity to re-confirm that a genuinely affordable electric Tesla is coming by 2015, something priced under $30,000 and, while probably not quite as bodacious as either the
Roadster or the Model S, hopefully it'll be a bit more invigorating than the
Leaf.
Permalink PluginCars.com |
earth2tech |
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Record number of aircraft 'laser events' gives us one more reason to hate LA
Are you
that kid aiming his father's laser pointer at people walking along city sidewalks? Yeah, well stop it -- now. What you might consider a harmless prank can have serious repercussions when aimed at the cockpit of an approaching jetliner. What seems like good fun at the time can temporarily blind a pilot attempting to land nearly a million pounds of life, metal, and fuel. According to the numbers just released by the FAA, 2010 saw a record number of reports of
lasers pointed at aircraft -- "almost double" the number of reports from 2009. Of the 2,800 incidents reported nationwide, the Los Angeles area reported the most with 201 incidents, followed by Chicago (98), Phoenix (80, half of which were probably UFO related), and San Jose (80 -- nerds!). Top 20 list after the break.
Continue reading Record number of aircraft 'laser events' gives us one more reason to hate LA
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Meguru is the world's first EV rickshaw it didn't know it needed (video)
If you've never experience the thrill that is fearing for your life while some crazy rickshaw jockey takes you tearing through a busy street, two-stroke engine screaming even louder than you, you haven't really lived. Soon there'll be no 175cc engine to drown out your lamentations, with the Meguru offering all that thrill and style with an
EV powertrain. It has a traditional Japanese design with motorcycle-derived innards but a cushy (and tackily upholstered) back seat for two -- or maybe three depending on how friendly everyone is. The side curtains are made of bamboo and washi paper, giving it a look that says "I'm at least partially organic." It's available now for a mere ¥100,000; about $1,200.
Update: A little further Googling has found a number of prior permutations for gas-free rickshaws, including a solar model, making us think the "world's first" claim here is perhaps a little dubious -- as it often is. Still, we'll give it world's first
mass produced EV rickshaw.
Continue reading Meguru is the world's first EV rickshaw it didn't know it needed (video)
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One out of every five cellphones sold is a KIRF, says Nokia
When your core business is as wrapped up in emerging markets as Nokia's is, then you'd better know a little something about
KIRFs -- those cheap handset clones that our Chinese friends can often
stamp out faster than the time it takes for Nokia to ship a handset after its announcement. Nokia executive board member, Esko Aho, says that one out of every five cellphones now sold around the world (primarily in Asia, Latin America, and some parts of Europe) is an illegal or unlicensed clone. We've certainly seen more than our share when
browsing the Shenzhen markets of China. Gartner claims the number to be even higher than 20 percent. While we poke fun at KIRFs around here for their shoddy software,
comically similar branding (
Nokla!), and cheapo materials, they've clearly become a very serious issue for top-tier cellphone manufacturers. How serious we'll see on January 27th when Nokia announces its fourth quarter results.
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PALRO robot masters English, will never shut up again (video)
When first we saw Fujisoft's
PALRO robot doing its thing we were charmed but, as it didn't speak English, we had to adore it from afar. No longer. The little critter has obviously mastered our language quite quickly and can be seen below chatting with an even more robotic humanoid about such idle things as the weather, career aspirations, and just how great PALRO is. How great
is PALRO? PALRO is really great -- but humble. Inside that barrel chest is a full-fledged PC with an
Atom Z530 processor, 4GB of flash storage, and an
Ubuntu kernel keeping everything in check. It's available as ever for educational and research institutions for about $3,600, but we're trying to get one ourselves. If we can get it to type prepare yourselves for many more posts about software based on real Japanese cutting-edge technology.
Continue reading PALRO robot masters English, will never shut up again (video)
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Plastic Pals |
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Latest Cydia release lets you easily download that jailbreak again and again
There's a new
iOS coming... eventually, and if you've jailbroken your device you know it's going to get locked up tight again. The latest version of
Cydia won't change that, but getting back to where you left off just got a lot easier. The app has merged with Rock Your Phone and now enables you to sign in using a Google or Facebook account. It will then track your purchases and downloads so that they can be easily applied again. And again. And probably again. There's also a new rating system and lots of other goodies -- but don't take our word for it.
Permalink Redmond Pie, Gizmodo |
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India's $35 tablet delay dashes hopes, destroys dreams
College students eagerly awaiting
India's ambitious $35 tablet are going to have to put their dreams on hold -- there's been a delay. Earlier this week, the
Times of India reported that the Indian government dropped HCL Technologies, the company responsible for manufacturing the great democratic tablet, for failing to follow through on the 600 million rupee (or $13,198,416) guarantee -- apparently a disagreement over production costs is to blame. Last summer, the country's Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, made a number of
appearances toting a mockup of the Android-based tablet, and promising a launch date of
January 15th. Officials say the project is still on track and should be ready this summer. However, while the government seeks a replacement for HCL, skeptics continue to sound warnings that parts alone will cost more than $35. We'd like to chalk this up to haters hating, but we can't seem to forget what became of the
$10 laptop.
Permalink CrunchGear |
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Logitech Wireless Mouse M515 works on sofas for up to two years without recharge, stays lint free
Sure, lots of mice, ok,
most mice can be coddled to work on fabric. But it takes a company with a dedicated mousing portfolio the size of Logitech's to design a mouse
specifically for use on the sofa. See, the Logitech Wireless Mouse M515 features a sealed bottom case that lets you mouse around on soft surfaces without snagging. That means it won't collect bits of fuzz around the sensor when dragging it across the couch, bed, or a trouser-clad thigh. Naturally, it can also be used on more traditional computing surfaces, too. The M515 boasts up to two-years of battery life thanks, in part, to a hand-detection sensor that causes the mouse to sleep anytime it's not being held. Rounding out the list of features is Logitech's Hyper-Fast scrolling wheel and Unifying USB micro receiver required for the laptop or home theater PC you wish to control. Look for the M515 to ship to Europe in April for £49.99 -- that's about $80 converted, but you'll likely find it for a lot less whenever it hits US retail.
Continue reading Logitech Wireless Mouse M515 works on sofas for up to two years without recharge, stays lint free
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