Ask Engadget: best roaming options for a trip to the UK and ROI?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's
Ask Engadget inquiry is from Tom, who wants to know what's the best option to get connected during a trip over the pond. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at
ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"Hi Engadget, I'm a Verizon subscriber and I've got an upcoming trip to London and Dublin. As I'm on a CDMA network, my Galaxy Nexus isn't going to be much use to me, so what options are available to me? I'm only going for 8 days, so we can't justify a big investment, but I only need calling and GPS (to get around). Thanks!"
You're right that there's no CDMA networks in the UK, but you aren't without options.
- Of course, the easiest and cheapest thing to do is convince a friend to loan you their unlocked GSM smartphone and buy a SIM card when you arrive in the UK, and then Dublin.
- Alternatively, you could pick up a pay as you go handset from one of the UK's budget carriers. Tesco Mobile offer the Motorola Motosmart, its cheapest with GPS, for £50 ($78), but if you can get by with using a map, then the Nokia 100 is available for just £9 ($14).
But, dear commenters, this is where you come in. Got a better suggestion? Throw it into the space below and help Tom stay connected wherever he go.
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Cellphones,
Mobile
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Mobile Miscellany: week of February 4th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought the arrival of Cricket's first waterproof smartphone and Three introduced an updated Galaxy S III known as the Ultrafast. Not to stop there, we'll take a trip to India to highlight the latest value-oriented smartphone. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "
best of the rest" for this week of February 4th, 2013.
Filed under:
Cellphones,
Software,
Mobile
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NBA offers its first free event app to track the All-Star Game through Android, iOS
The
NBA isn't known for offering much in the way of free apps, or tailoring its efforts around a special event. For the All-Star Game and surrounding events, however, the league is trying both in one shot. Its All-Star 2013 app for Android, iPads and iPhones lets anyone follow along with related scores, news, video highlights and voting for certain MVP awards. Fans fortunate enough to be in Houston for the event also get ticket details and maps. You'll notice that there's no mention of live audio or video -- the NBA isn't that kind, unfortunately. Even so, the All-Star app could be helpful for keeping tabs on the Slam Dunk competition without paying for the privilege.
Filed under:
Cellphones,
Tablets,
HD
Comments
Source: App Store (iPad),
(iPhone),
Google Play
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Alt-week 2.9.13: Seismic invisibility, bacterial gold and really, really big prime numbers
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
The lure of gold, the unpredictable weather and the power of invisibility. What do these three things have in common? We'd argue their almost universal appeal to the human race. Science makes headway in all three of these areas in this edition. On top of that there's a really, incredibly, massive prime number. This is alt-week.
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Misc,
Science,
Alt
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Lumio desk lamp takes light reading literally (video)
With the future of reading heading squarely in the direction of electronic devices, what to do with the old timey book form? Build a lamp, of course. During a recent visit to the City by the Bay, we popped into the TechShop hackerspace and were introduced to Max Gunawan, the designer behind Lumio (not to be confused with a certain smartphone line
of similar name). The product, developed in that very space, offers up a cool take on the desktop lamp, fitting it into a wooden, old timey-looking book form. Open it up and the pages fan out into what looks like a paper lantern.
It's an LED light powered by a lithium ion battery that'll give you around eight hours on a charge. Due to the foldable nature of the Lumio, the device is portable and can be opened into a number of configurations, to suit your needs. Gunawan is a couple of days away from launching a Kickstarter page for the project, in hopes of getting together $60,000. Interested funders will be able to pick one up for around $95 -- wait for it to come to market, and that price will jump to around $125 or $135.
After the break, check out a video of Gunawan giving us the lowdown on Lumio.
Comments
Source: Hello Lumio
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Microsoft sells out of 128GB Surface Pro models online and in some stores
If you were wondering how well the public would take to a Microsoft-made tablet costing $899 or more... quite well, at least from initial impressions. The 128GB
Surface Pro has sold out at Microsoft's US online store, and checks suggest a lack of stock at both the company's retail stores as well as Best Buy and Staples. Canada is facing similar shortages at Best Buy and Future Shop. Not surprisingly,
storage worries (since partly alleviated) have left the 64GB tablet as the only one in consistent supply, and we suspect that the 128GB model in Microsoft's Canadian store won't last for much longer. We'd be cautious before declaring the Surface Pro a runaway hit, however -- there's no word on how many units each store had, and Microsoft has refrained from reporting Surface sale numbers to date. Still, the early uptake is good news for Microsoft's first foray into designing an x86 PC, and it shows that many early adopters aren't hung up on the price.
Filed under:
Tablets,
Microsoft
Comments
Via: SuperSite for Windows
Source: Microsoft Store,
Best Buy,
Staples
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Yandex passes Bing to become fourth largest search provider according to comScore
Bing, Microsoft's attempt to take on
Google directly. When it first launched there was quite a bit of fanfare and its market share
grew quickly. It didn't exactly hack away at Mountain View's dominance, but it certainly made a small dent. Since then, things have slowed down and other players have asserted themselves in the global search battlefield. While
Baidu has been riding high for quite some time,
Yandex is a relative new-comer to the leader board. And, somewhat surprisingly, has already surpassed Microsoft for global market share according to stats provided to us by comScore. Though the margin is small, the Russian company saw more searches performed through its site than Microsoft in both November and December of 2012. The difference is small enough that those positions could swap again but, where as Bing has seen its numbers plateau over the last six months, Yandex has continued to grow. Of course, neither is anywhere near challenging Google which accounts for roughly 65 percent of the search traffic according to comScore's numbers and both only see about half the traffic of the number three competitor, Yahoo. Microsoft can still claim one victory over Yandex in the number of unique searchers, though. If you're curious for more we've put the entire chart after the break.
Filed under:
Internet,
Microsoft,
Google
Comments
Via: DailyTech,
Search Engine Watch
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Watch talks from Gabe Newell to Ray Muzyka in the collected DICE 2013 presentations, right here
This year's
DICE was especially heavy on great speakers, and we're happy to say that a partnership between The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and entertainment trade publication
Variety means that most of the great speeches were captured for all to see on YouTube. That means everything from Valve head
Gabe Newell's speech on his company's
next steps in the hardware realm to Microsoft's discussion of the latest, greatest
Halo game -- and even a surprise appearance from the
recently retired BioWare doctor, Ray Muzyka -- was recorded. We've dropped the available talks just below the break; sadly,
the first day's J.J. Abrams / Gabe Newell back-and-forth on storytelling was an in-person exclusive. We'll have a variety of interviews from DICE with many of the speakers seen beyond the break in the coming days -- keep an eye out (or
a bookmark here, of course)!
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Gaming,
Software,
HD
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Windows Phone users unable to download apps, receiving error code 805a0193
Thumbs twitching, in an attempt to get on that new
Spotify beta? You might have had a frustrating morning. Multiple users are reporting that when trying to purchase or download apps on their Windows Phone they are instead receiving error code 805a0193. As handy as the code is, there's no further information about what is causing the problem. Unlike
previous issues that seemed
more localized, this current instance appears pretty widespread with reports coming from the US, and France amongst others. Are you affected? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime we've contacted Microsoft to see what's up.
[Thanks to all who sent this in]
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Cellphones,
Mobile,
Microsoft
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Egyptian court suspends YouTube for a month over controversial film (Update: Google statement)
Users of YouTube in Egypt could face a month-long blackout of the service after an administrative court ruling ordered the website's suspension. The ministries of communication and investment have been ordered to block the popular video sharing site, reports news agency
MENA, for hosting the movie short
Innocence of Muslims. The American-made film has caused strong reactions since its release in September, at which point the initial complaint about YouTube's showing of it is said to have been made. Today's decision is a result of that ruling, and while the service should still currently remain online, Egypt's National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority has claimed it will uphold the suspension once it receives confirmation of the verdict. This isn't the first time access to YouTube has been
restricted by a government, and the very same film caused the Pakistani prime minister to call for a similar ban at the time of the movie's release. The 13-minute video is still available on YouTube, implying that the site deems that it doesn't breach its own guidelines, but it does come with a warning for user discretion due to possible offence. We've reached out to Google for comment.
Update: Google has responded with the following statement:
"We have received nothing from the judge or government related to this matter."
Update #2: Our friends in Egypt tell us YouTube is working fine for now -- at least as of 13.30pm today.
Filed under:
Internet,
Google
Comments
Source: Reuters
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PSA: Microsoft Surface Pro now available in the US and Canada
After missing
initial shipping plans with some undisclosed delays, and despite seeing its welcome party in NYC abolished by a storm dubbed Nemo, Microsoft's finally started the process to make that long-awaited
Surface Pro available to the masses. Starting
with US and Canada residents, those seeking Redmond's
in-house hardware and a full serving of
Windows 8 can now snag a Surface Pro starting at $899 for the 64GB model, while the more spacious 128GB unit is slightly costlier at $999. And while these prices do include Microsoft's pressure-sensitive pen, they don't account for any other fancy accessories, which means potential buyers
will have to shell out a little extra cash if a
Touch or Type Cover are of interest -- more specifically, $120 and $130, respectively. We'll see how Ballmer and Co. cope with demand this time around, but as history would kindly note, it's probably best to be one of the first in line just to be
extra, extra safe.
Filed under:
Desktops,
Laptops,
Tablets,
Microsoft
Comments
Source: Microsoft,
Microsoft Store
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NASA and Lockheed Martin finish MAVEN probe, hope to study Mars' upper skies
Us humans are
surprisingly familiar with Mars' surface, yet we haven't studied its higher altitudes -- an odd discrepancy when the sky plays as much of a role as the soil in determining the planet's climate. We'll get a better balance in our research now that NASA and
Lockheed Martin have finished constructing the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe, or MAVEN. The robot craft will learn how quickly the Martian atmosphere is escaping into space and give us a better idea of how the planet's arid landscape came to be. Lockheed Martin still needs to conduct space simulation tests and ship MAVEN to the Kennedy Space Center, but the ship should launch in November and deliver results roughly a year later; that's a quick turnaround for a probe that could answer riddles spanning millions of years.
Filed under:
Robots,
Science
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Source: NASA
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Bing Pulse launching with help from Fox News, aims to make State of the Union speech more interactive
Just in time for next week's State of the Union address,
Bing announced it's teamed up with Fox News to launch Bing Pulse, a one-stop hub where folks can easily interact and share their thoughts with one another while President
Barack Obama's speech is taking place. The Microsoft-owned search engine says that Pulse will allow participants to vote on reactions to the event every five seconds, with the impending results being shown on the Bing Politics site. What's more, Bing believes "this will be the largest live online poll in history," which will be enhanced by the outfit's new Beat "social sentiment tracker" -- a service that's set to collect and analyze data from Twitter in order to figure out what are the trendiest political topics during
the speech. Folks interested in joining the Bing Pulse conversation should hit that more coverage link to get acquainted -- and, of course, don't forget to bookmark it so you're all set come February 12th.
Filed under:
Internet,
Microsoft
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Source: Bing
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O hai, Twitter now has LOLcat language opshun, kthxbai
It's been a busy week at
Twitter, what with new rollouts like an
upgraded search engine that'll pull in older tweets and a
simplified search tool for mobile app users. So it's now time to have some fun. As a little easter egg, the social media giant has added a LOLcat language option to add a bit of internet meme flavor to the normal Twitter web interface. The changes are what you might expect: Twitter is now TWTTR, "Compose new tweet" is COMPOZE NEW TWEET, "conversation" is CONVERSASHUN, "Who to follow" is HOO 2 FOLLOW and so forth. No, your timeline won't automatically transform into a stream of grammatical and spelling errors and your own tweets won't be magically LOLcat-ified either (for that, we suggest hitting the Speak LOLcat translator link below). Still, it's a fun little weekend distraction if you're not quite tired of the I Can Has Cheezburger meme just yet. You'll find "LOLCATZ" under the language drop down section in Settings, or you can just click on the source to check out your Twitter page in all its LOLcat glory.
Filed under:
Internet
Comments
Via: The Next Web,
Twitter
Source: Twitter (LOLCat language)
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Rogers adopts sane device unlocking policy, $8 pay-per-use US roaming
Rogers has had an
unlocking policy in place for awhile, but it isn't what most would call reasonable: an unlock isn't even an option until the contract is over, which could involve a 3-year wait and obsolete hardware that isn't worth the effort. Logic is about to prevail, thanks in part to pressure from proposed
CRTC guidelines on customer rights. A policy change in March will see Rogers unlock devices as long as they've been on the network for at least 90 days, delivering freedom while the equipment is still relevant. Subscribers will just have to swallow the $50 fee, although that's a relative bargain next to buying outright.
The provider is also making a gesture of goodwill to those who frequently cross into the US through a new roaming add-on launching this spring. Border-hoppers will have the option to pay $8 to get a quick, 50MB hit of data for one day. It's not quite the revolution the carrier claims when many of us could blow past the limit within minutes -- Instagram, anyone? Still, it's good enough for emergency directions or an email check among those of us who won't commit to a permanent roaming plan.
Filed under:
Cellphones,
Wireless,
Mobile
Comments
Source: Rogers
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Pirate Bay documentary now streaming, up for download on (surprise!) The Pirate Bay
Way back in 2010, filmmaker Simon Klose petitioned folks on
Kickstarter for $25,000 to hire a professional video editor. The pro's task? Sifting through and editing over 200 hours of footage Klose had recorded that chronicles the journey of
The Pirate Bay's three founders throughout their
trial. Now, over two years later and after the case's conclusion, the documentary has premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and is now available for your viewing pleasure. Sure, you could watch the whole hour and twenty minute-long affair in 1080p on YouTube, but what would be more fitting than
legally downloading it (thanks to a creative commons license) through The Pirate Bay? Hit the neighboring source link to start downloading
TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard, or head past the break for the full film.
Comments
Via: Boing Boing
Source: The Pirate Bay,
The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard (YouTube)
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BLU Products ships Studio 5.3 II, rugged Tank 4.5
BLU Products is leaving no niche uncovered, it seems. Just a week after the
Quattro line surfaced, we're seeing two more budget smartphones arrive that fill in what few gaps are left. The Tank 4.5 seen above is a rare rugged entry for BLU that's dust- and water-resistant, yet still reasonably slim for a toughened phone at 0.38 inches -- it's the 4.5-inch qHD screen, dual-core 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera and 4GB of expandable storage that keep the price in check. The Studio 5.3 II (below), meanwhile, is a direct sequel to
last year's Studio that takes on the improved processor and resolution of the Tank 4.5 while throwing in a better 8-megapixel camera. Regardless of the phone, you'll find Jelly Bean and roaming-friendly dual SIM slots with unlocked HSPA 3G. Both are shipping now to the US for $199, which could be just low enough to catch travelers who want a simple smartphone for that late winter vacation.
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Cellphones,
Mobile
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Source: BLU Products
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Google aiming to build $82 million aircraft facility at SJC, probably launch more Project Glass demos from it
It's no secret that Google has an
interest in the automotive industry, but over the years the popular search engine has also managed to amass quite the collection of aircraft. So much in fact, the company is in the process of inking an $82 million construction deal that would bring its fleet to Mineta San Jose International Airport. Pending city council approval, the privately funded facility would generate an annual $2.6 million rent lease, around $400,000 in fuel revenues and create 236 jobs. If agreed upon, the 29-acre Googleport will take up to two years to build and will include an executive terminal along with hangers to house the company's private Boeing
737 and
747 jets. Google currently parks its jets at Moffett Federal Airfield, where the company has offered to renovate
NASA Ames' Hanger One in exchange for two-thirds of its facility space to house its planes. There's no word if either deal will affect the other, but as it stands San Jose's city council is expected to vote on its proposal sometime in April.
Filed under:
Misc,
Google
Comments
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Mercury News
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Sandboxr lets us easily make custom-posed, 3D-printed figurines (video)
Where was Sandboxr when we were kids? Instead of dragging our parents around on a hunt for the perfect
figurine, we could have used the company's new web app to easily manipulate a virtual model and get a 3D printed statuette in the exact pose we wanted. There's compensation for the lost opportunities of our childhood, however. The creation tool allows for customized accessories, scenes and sizing, and it's expected to have reasonable prices of about $12 for a 2.5-inch character and over $20 for a 3.5-inch version. The best news may simply be the likelihood of a figurine existing in the first place -- Sandboxr sees itself as a platform for everyone from 3D animators through to game developers and dedicated toy companies, many of which can use existing 3D models to start a collectible line. The printing service is currently invitation-only and plans a Kickstarter fundraising drive to scale larger, but it's easy to see an end to the days of limited edition figurines -- much to the delight of our inner child.
Filed under:
Misc,
Household
Comments
Via: Wired
Source: Sandboxr
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The Daily Roundup for 02.08.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
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PayPal offers preview of much-needed site redesign, finally enters Web 2.0
While
PayPal's recently revamped homepage looks fresh and modern, the actual account interface is still mired in the past, seemingly unchanged since the early aughts when the company first hit it big alongside Ugg boots and
American Idol. As the online payment giant seeks to
reinvent itself however, it's finally bringing the site design into the future. PayPal has offered a sneak peek at the new look, and it's certainly more in line with current design tropes, with a cleaner and clearer aesthetic and improved navigation to boot. The refreshed design also hints at the company's upcoming retail efforts like in-store checkouts and purchasing grace periods where you can buy the item at the store, bring it home and
then decide where the funds should come from. We're still not sure when the redesign will roll out, but we're guessing it'll be around when those
Discover Network cards come into play. For more screenshots of the new PayPal, take the design tour at the source.
Filed under:
Internet
Comments
Via: The Next Web
Source: PayPal
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Memorial Sloan-Kettering puts Watson to use to aid cancer treatment decisions
We heard almost a year ago that Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center had
turned to IBM's Watson as a tool to help doctors provide the best cancer treatment recommendations, and it looks like those plans are now starting to be put into practice. IBM, along with WellPoint, Inc. and Memorial Sloan-Kettering, have today announced what they describe as the "first commercially developed Watson-based cognitive computing breakthroughs." More specifically, they've developed a system that allows Waston to draw on a wealth of medical information and quickly provide evidence-based treatment recommendations to doctors.
And we do mean a wealth of information; as IBM explains, Watson has spent the last year digesting more than 600,000 pieces of medical evidence and two million pages of text from 42 medical journals, and it has the ability to parse some 1.5 million patient records covering decades of cancer treatment history. That all takes the form of two separate "Watson-based" products to start with, one of which IBM expects to be used by more 1,600 providers by the end of this year. You can find more details on those at the source links, and get a more general overview of the project in the video after the break from IBM.
Filed under:
Misc
Comments
Source: IBM,
Smarter Planet Blog
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Editorial: Nintendo's digital content problem and how the Wii U is making things worse
The Wii U's launch was a bit rocky, to say the least.
Missing features, promised
TV services and slow-loading,
day-one firmware updates left Nintendo fans frustrated and disappointed. The company is still cleaning up the mess too, announcing that it will push two additional software updates to fix the console's
slogging load times. A quicker console will certainly be welcome, but the Wii U spring updates are missing an opportunity to close a rift that divides Nintendo from its loving customer base: how it handles digital content ownership.
Ever buy an Xbox Live game? You probably know that purchase is tied to your
Xbox Live account, and will be available on any subsequent Xbox you purchase. Not in Nintendo's world; Kyoto's digital sales are tied to the gaming hardware, not the user's account. It's been a sore spot for Nintendo gamers for some time now, and the Wii U was the company's chance to make amends -- except it didn't. Like its predecessors, the new console locks content to the device it was originally purchased on, imprisoning digital purchases in a physical cage. The Wii U takes content confinement a step further with its support for legacy software, providing a near-perfect example of the folly of Nintendo's content ownership philosophy: the isolated sandbox of its backwards-compatible Wii Menu.
Filed under:
Gaming,
HD,
Nintendo
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Editor's Letter: When the rubber hits the road
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
The time for talk and for analysis has come to a close. The BlackBerry company's first phone hit the market in earnest and now we wait and see how the market reacts. According to BlackBerry itself, initial
indications are just fine. While the company followed in the footsteps of Amazon and Microsoft and refused to give solid numbers (probably wisely), it did say that sales for the Canadian release were 50 percent stronger than any of the company's previous launches there. In the UK things looked even better, with sales 300 percent greater than any previous BlackBerry release.
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UPS takes 100 EVs on the road in California, makes delivering packages eco-friendlier
The Golden State's without a doubt
at the forefront of the so-called green movement, and thus it shouldn't come as a surprise that
UPS chose it as the destination for 100 of its brand-new electric trucks. This initiative is a natural expansion of UPS' eco-friendly scheme, as
the delivery behemoth has already implemented something similar in New York City and Europe, with nearly 30 roadsters currently being operated around those areas. It's also worth noting that's only a small chunk of the more than 2,500 "alternative fuel vehicles" on the company's roster, which includes more electrics, hybrids and others with natural gas technologies. In California, meanwhile, the 100 delivery EVs mark the culmination of a plan that
started back in 2011, and will see UPS take these (and all of their 75-miles-on-a-single-charge goods) to a few West Coast cities, such as Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento and San Bernardino. Folks in the area, be on the lookout, since you may very well spot one the next time your expected package reaches its "On Vehicle for Delivery" status.
Filed under:
Transportation
Comments
Via: Autoblog
Source: UPS
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