|  |  |  | | | | | Engadget | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Did you just brave the lines of a midnight launch party and snag yourself a PS Vita in the US? Good news ye early adopters, Sony's PlayStation Blog has just announced that select apps will be available today as part of today's PlayStation Store update. Currently, you'll find Netflix, LiveTweet and Flickr, but there's still nary of trace of Facebook or Foursquare among the bunch (nor any official word on release dates for that matter). We gave each app a download and quick spin prior to them being officially listed, and everything's running fairly smooth so far. Disappointingly, Vita's 20MB cap on 3G data is totally in effect on Netflix, as switching to our cellular connection denied us any access to the service. We're giving the apps some extended use to bring you our initial impressions shortly, but for now, you'll find more info at the source link below. 'Select' PS Vita apps hit the US PlayStation Store: Netflix, LiveTweet and Flickr originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  PlayStation.Blog (US) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  In the world of electronics, the size of a device directly relates to its ability to pull ahead of the competition -- especially when it comes to fitness-tracking gadgets. The latest and greatest in this field has emerged from the most unexpected of places, with Epson, a company known for its printers and projectors, releasing the world's lightest GPS watch. This timepiece, specifically designed for runners, reportedly offers more accurate readings and better battery life (up to 12 hours on one charge) than competing products from Garmin, with acute data on distance, speed and pace, all due to its newly-designed 13mm-thick module. If sweat is an issue, the water-resistant casing offers protection against a full submersion of up to 50 meters -- you can wipe your brow with a sigh of relief. Pricing and availability on the company's latest concept is still unknown, but you can let your eyes do the jogging as you peruse the press release just past the break. Continue reading Epson joins fitness market with world's lightest GPS watch Epson joins fitness market with world's lightest GPS watch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Gizmodo | Epson | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We're not sure if the world was anxiously awaiting a follow-up to LG's Optimus 3D (the AT&T Thrill 4G here in the states), but here it is: the LG Optimus Cube 3D. Only announced for Korean carrier SK Telecom so far, the Optimus 3D Cube is slightly thinner than its predecessor at 9.6mm vs. 10.9mm, a faster 1.2GHz dual-core CPU and 16GB of storage built-in, confirming most of the rumors we'd heard previously. According to LG, it will also be the world's first that can handle 3D photo and video editing right on its glasses-free 4.3-inch screen, all shot by the dual 5MP cameras mounted on the back. It also has NFC baked in to support the new LG Tag+ stickers that change the phone's settings when swiped, just like the Optimus LTE Tag. It's scheduled for release in early March with Android 2.3, and although we didn't see it mentioned in the Korean press release, will probably be due for an Ice Cream Sandwich makeover sometime soon just like its cousin, the Optimus Vu. Check out the machine-translated specs and press release after the break, there should be a native English version along soon and of course, we'll be getting a look firsthand when Mobile World Congress kicks off on the 27th. Continue reading LG Optimus 3D Cube is a slimmer sequel, world's first phone with 3D video editing LG Optimus 3D Cube is a slimmer sequel, world's first phone with 3D video editing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Another pre-Mobile World Congress tease from LG? Yup, you're looking at it. While the company's technically already spilled the beans on its upcoming Galaxy Note-rival, the Optimus Vu, this occasion marks the first time we've gotten to see the phablet in video form. In the roughly 1,000 frames of animation above, you're treated to closeups of the Vu's 5-inch 1024 x 768 IPS display, its 8-megapixel camera and a brief demo of its screenshot annotation abilities. That's really all there is to it, so watch and learn folks, as you mentally prepare yourself for our more intimate rendezvous with it in the coming week. LG's Optimus Vu shows up on video, flaunts note taking expertise (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Netbook News | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | It's not the first time that rumors have surfaced of Google working on some heads-up display glasses (9 to 5 Google first raised the possibility late last year), but The New York Times is now reporting that the company is not only working on them, but that it's set to release them by the end of this year. Citing "several Google employees familiar with the project," the paper's Nick Bilton reports that the glasses will be based on Android, pack 3G or 4G connectivity, plus GPS and a range of sensors, and cost "around the price of current smartphones," or somewhere between $250 and $600. They're also said to include a low-resolution camera that can monitor your surroundings in real time and overlay relevant information, although Google is said to be paying attention to potential privacy concerns, and "wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera."
What's more, the Times says that none other than Sergey Brin is a "key leader" on the project, with another being Google engineer Steve Lee, the creator of Latitude. Notably, Bilton also says that Google sees the project as an "experiment that anyone will be able to join," and that the company is not currently thinking about potential business models for the glasses, which could suggest that they may be more of a small-scale hobby than part of a major push into consumer hardware. NYT: Google to sell Android-based heads-up display glasses this year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | The New York Times | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Welcome to a special President's Day Engadget HD podcast (ok, not that special) where we kick things off with last week's hot button topic: universal pricing. Is a forced even playing field between online and B&M retailers fair, or harmful to the consumer? You guys sounded off in the comments, so we took another look at Samsung's plan for its 2012 HDTVs. We've also got plenty of HTPC news, with InfiniTV access on more platforms, a new round of arguments between Boxee and the NCTA and Kinect for Media Center. It's also time to say hello to Aereo -- even if we think it may not be long for this world -- before taking a look at the latest receivers from Onkyo and what's on TV this week.
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)
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00:23:45 - BBC 3D London Olympics plans include one live sporting event, daily highlights
00:28:43 - Premium cable TV comes to XBMC, GoodPlayer and more via InfiniTV 4 tuner
00:34:50 - Boxee and the NCTA debate if ClearQAM is good for us
00:40:00 - March Madness streams to more platforms in 2012, but not everything is free
00:42:56 - Blockbuster On Demand pulls back from TiVo and others, is it on its way out?
00:47:15 - HBO Go rolls out to most Samsung Smart HDTVs -- but not through all providers
00:52:46 - Xbox 360 system update gets its colors in order, makes it mandatory
00:55:01 - Kinect for Media Center released, why not wave and shout at your HTPC?
00:57:03 - Comcast slows the flood of video customer losses in Q4 2011
00:58:24 - Time Warner Cable's TWC TV launches for PC, brings live TV streaming to the desktop
01:01:04 - Aereo puts TV antennas in the cloud, streams OTA broadcasts on the internet
01:05:04 - Onkyo debuts new entry level receivers, HTIBs for 2012
01:09:30 - Must See HDTV (February 20th - 26th)
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LISTEN (AAC) Engadget HD Podcast 287 - 02.21.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Considering the pain and loss she's just endured, you may have a hard time convincing professional skier Elyse Saugstad that she's a lucky woman, but it's true. Saugstad was tackling Tunnel Creek in the Cascade Mountains with a group of other experienced backcountry skiers, when a large sheet of snow broke loose from the side of the mountain. Elyse and three others were sent hurtling 3,000 feet down the slope, sadly, only she survived the ordeal. Her almost miraculous escape was thanks in large part to the inflatable airbag system she wore. The safety gear has been available for sometime in Europe, but it only recently started making a splash here in the US. The large bladders filled with nitrogen helped keep her near the top of the avalanche, making it easier for her to breathe once the snow had settled and easier for rescuers to find her. Hit up the source link for an interview with Elyse Saugstad. Skier saved from deadly avalanche by airbag backpack originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | BBC | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We're not suggesting Sony has a Kinect style controller coming soon, but it certainly filed a patent for one. The application for a "User-Driven Three-Dimensional Interactive Gaming Environment" was initially logged in October last year by Richard Marks of PlayStation Eye fame. The controller can "determine when to interact with the system by allowing part of the user's body, or an object, to cross the maximum depth range plane" meaning input could be limited to just the hands etc. This wouldn't be the first time Sony has created controller technology similar to its competitors, but the company is careful not to outright state that's what it's for. That said, amongst the legalese it does go as far too say the system can be implemented by an entertainment system "such as" its flagship console. So, sadly there's no way of knowing if we'll be getting a PlayStation Motion any time soon, but feel free to wave over the source link to see the patent for yourself. Sony makes a patent move for Kinect style controller originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Eurogamer | USPTO | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The official Twitter app has just received an update on iOS and Android, bringing new features to both platforms, plus an "optimized" Ice Cream Sandwich experience as seen above. The app is also currently available on Amazon's Appstore for the Kindle Fire now, and the company says it will pop up in the Barnes & Noble Nook Store February 23rd. For both Android and IOS the app has brought back / added a swipe gesture to reply to, reweet or favorite something without leaving your timeline, plus a notification on the Find Friends feature that it will be uploading their address book to Twitter's server -- a welcome change after the Path fiasco. The iOS-specific changes are the return of copy and paste, more options to share or save links in tweets, a mark all read for DMs and configurable font sizes. While it is optimized for ICS, on our CyanogenMod 9 tablet, the layout still looked reminiscent of the Gingerbread version instead of the iPad's richer layout. Hit the source links below to give it a look yourself and let us know if it's beating out your favorite mobile app yet. Twitter's Android and iOS app get updates; out on Kindle Fire now, Nook soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Twitter Blog, iTunes, Android Market | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Sure, some folks could use a little extra help maneuvering in order to complete daily chores. But what about help with all of that heavy lifting? The folks at RB3D in France have been working with the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), ESME Sudria and CES LIST to develop a robotic exoskeleton that will aid in doing just that. Hercule, the aforementioned cobot-esque (collaborative robot) prototype, doesn't require any special training or skills to use. A person needing extra strength to carry that crate of supplies just wears the device and goes about his or her business with the added support of the exosuit. This particular model is powered electrically and will last about 20km (about 12.5 miles) if movement is kept at a regular walking pace. Weight limits, you ask? The Hercule boasts a carrying capacity of 100kg (220lbs) -- more HAL tech we've seen in aiding travelers in the past. Military and civil customers could get their hands on these as early as 2014, but for now, jump past the break for a look at one in action. Continue reading RB3D develops Hercule robotic exoskeleton, boosts strength without P90X RB3D develops Hercule robotic exoskeleton, boosts strength without P90X originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Robots.net, innorobo | DGA (French) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We know Samsung's been ramping up its home entertainment arsenal. Now, recent intel acquired by the folks at SmartHouse suggests that the Korean outfit's about to dive into deeper waters, after reportedly striking a deal in Australia. The pact, that's yet to become official, would give the manufacturer access to the plethora of films available from your favorite blue-and-yellow video store, which could then be streamed to your beloved Galaxy handset or Tab, as well as Sammy-branded Smart TVs, Blu-ray players and laptops. Furthermore, the report claims Samsung's got a friendly billing system in the works that'd allow easy access to the content on your devices. It's expected to hit US and Euro shores "as early as September." Until then you'll have to stick with the good ol' Redbox kiosks. Samsung / Blockbuster reportedly sign streaming deal in Oz, US and Europe next? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink TNW | Smarthouse | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Q4 of fiscal year 2012 was another rough one for Dell. The company fell short of expectations yet again, netting less than a billion dollars in operating income on revenues of $16 billion. The one bright spot is enterprise services, which had another record quarter, accounting for 30 percent of revenues ($4.9 billion). While there was some growth in high end systems, Dell has clearly seen the writing on the wall and plans to refocus primarily on enterprise products and services in 2013.
Developing...Dell falls short on Q4 earnings: $16 billion in revenue, only $931 profits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Dell | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not everyone's smartphone has NFC, and of those that do, an even smaller subset have official Google Wallet support. It would seem Mountain View's complacency is Moneto's gain, as the outfit's recently put up for sale its $30 NFC-enabled microSD card -- enabling plebes everywhere sans contactless circuitry to sashay their way into mobile payment heaven. That card is also stuffed with 1GB of storage for your exploits and those plunking down three Hamiltons are also privy to a $10 credit thrown in. There's one caveat, however, as per its website the service currently only works on variants of the Galaxy S (including carrier permutations like the Vibrant, Fascinate and Galaxy S 4G). Support for an additional forty devices is inbound but before committing, we'd peep the latest compatibility info from the horse's mouth in the more coverage link we've included below. Continue reading Moneto's $30 Android mobile payment kit goes on sale, brings contactless payments to four Samsungs Moneto's $30 Android mobile payment kit goes on sale, brings contactless payments to four Samsungs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Droid-Life | Moneto | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Touchscreens can't differentiate between you, your friend or your cat. Truth is, they're actually amazingly simple pieces of technology without much in the way of brains. A new type of display shown off at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference in Tokyo last week does imbue the panels with at least enough smarts to tell people apart. Gunze Ltd pairs a special capacitive screen with electrodes, which a user touches with one hand while interacting with a game or app. The immediate use would be for table-top arcade games, which would differentiate between up to four different players based on what particular circuit they complete when touching the screen. We wouldn't be shocked if a version of the tech started showing up in multi-player video poker machines and bar games relatively soon. Gunze's new touchscreen tech knows who's touching it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Ubergizmo | Tech-On | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hot on the heels of its dimensionally-average predecessor, Origin's revealed a second, 3D-capable, desktop-replacing laptop; stereoscopic gamers, rejoice. This EON17-X3D utilizes a pair of overclocked GPUs, with 3D panoramas provided by a pair of NVIDIA's 3D Vision 2 wireless glasses -- although you'll have to buy them extra. Hardware-wise, it's a similar story to the EON17-X, with a back-lit keyboard and the same-size 17.3-inch display -- the 3D function is actually a customization choice for the original model. Build options for this chunky gaming beast also include up to 32GB of quad channel memory and two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M GPUs in SLI on the priciest custom build. The basic model will set you back around $3,030, but an eye-catching paint job? That's going to cost a little extra. Continue reading Origin PC launches new 3D gaming laptop: two graphics cards for three dimensions Origin PC launches new 3D gaming laptop: two graphics cards for three dimensions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Origin PC | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Android on your phone can send texts, perform searches, set alarms and execute plenty of other tasks with little more than a simple voice command. Google TV is, for all intents and purposes, just Android blown up to fill your 42-inch TV -- so it would only make sense that Voice Actions might one day come to the Mountain View-branded set top solution. Well, a patent application filed back in September hints that just such a thing is on its way. Rather than require new hardware though, an Android phone would act as an intermediary, passing commands to the Google TV device. An added bonus to being able to ask your TV "when is Seinfeld on?" is that, since the phone is actually passing on the instructions, you can control your set remotely. As an example the filing suggests using GPS to determine when a user is within a quarter mile of their home, then turning on the TV and tuning in to whatever station happens to be airing The Soup Nazi. Hit up the source for all the details. Patent application hints at Voice Actions for Google TV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Patently Apple, PCWorld | USPTO | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ever felt like Bing wasn't for retail stores or print journalism? The two latest Windows Phone updates won't dispel that fantasy, sadly. Bing Vision been update so it can read Barcodes, CD, DVD and Book Covers so you can find out how much cheaper the item in your hand is if ordered online. Image Matching for Newspapers won't arrive until March, but you'll be able to snap a photo of an article you've seen in a local rag and, if its in Microsoft's database, you'll be linked directly to the original version of the article online. That's brick and mortar retail and newspapers taken care of, we'll be waiting around to see what's next on Bing's hit-list -- orphanages, probably. Bing's two new 'death to print, death to retail' features get detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Bing | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  It was only a matter of time, right? The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast is rolling out a VOD competitor for Amazon, Netflix and Hulu so it can grab a slice of the streaming video pie. Called Xfinity Streampix, it brings shows from NBC and ABC, along with movies from Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Scheduled to launch this Thursday, the service will be rolled in for free with some existing cable packages and available on its own for $4.99 a month. For your five bucks, you get access to a back catalog of shows and movies on any internet-capable device, though, naturally we don't know exactly how much content will be available when it goes live. What we do know is that price point puts Streampix well beneath the $7.99 asking price of its competition, so here's hoping a VOD price war ensues. Comcast to launch Xfinity Streampix streaming video service, challenge Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Wall Street Journal | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | It was only a matter of time, right? The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast is rolling out a VOD competitor for Amazon, Netflix and Hulu so it can grab a slice of the streaming video pie. Called Xfinity Streampix, it brings shows from NBC and ABC, along with movies from Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Scheduled to launch this Thursday, the service will be rolled in for free with some existing cable packages and available on its own for $4.99 a month. For your five bucks, you get access to a back catalog of shows and movies on any internet-capable device, though, naturally we don't know exactly how much content will be available when it goes live. What we do know is that price point puts Streampix well beneath the $7.99 asking price of its competition, so here's hoping a VOD price war ensues.
Update: Check out the official PR after the break for more details, including a list of the content coming to Streampix and Comcast's plans to bring VOD to the Xbox 360 and Android.Continue reading Comcast to launch Xfinity Streampix streaming video service, challenge Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (update) Comcast to launch Xfinity Streampix streaming video service, challenge Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Wall Street Journal | Comcast Voices | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Pulse Surface Controller is a vibration-based musical instrument that finally puts those years of air drumming to use. It's a small, piezo-based MIDI controller that lets you turn pretty much any surface into a musical instrument. The device has a built-in suction cup, comes with velcro straps and plugs into your computer's microphone port. The fun really starts with the dedicated controller software, that converts your percussive punches to your virtual instrument of choice. You're not limited to drums either, as you can map your taps to a velocity sensitive melodic generator to create musical tones and scales. Luckily you won't have to sit on your hands to get one of these either, as the Pulse Surface Controller System is available now for $59, or you can tap-tap-tap the video after the break for a demo. Continue reading Pulse Surface Controller System: bangs the drum, desk, window Pulse Surface Controller System: bangs the drum, desk, window originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink SlashGear | Pulse Controller | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | What the Atrix 4G first promised, it looks like the folks at Canonical may deliver. Think back to CES 2011, when Motorola showed us a future where our phone was the only computing device we would need -- only to leave us wanting when its webtop app didn't deliver the requisite functionality for such a future. Well, it turns out Ubuntu now runs on multi-core Android devices and your handset can grant a full desktop experience when docked with a display and a keyboard. It's a customized version of Ubuntu that plays nice with Android, the two OS's sharing data and services while running simultaneously. So, you can still access telephony and texts from the Ubuntu environment while enjoying all the computing capabilities it has to offer, including: Ubuntu TV, virtualization tools for running Windows applications, desktop web browsers, and Ubuntu apps built for ARM. It isn't clear exactly what hardware you'll need to run Ubuntu on a handset, but Canonical has said it works on multi-core devices with HDMI and USB connections. We'll get more info next week when it's shown off at MWC, but until then you'll have to settle for the source below and PR after the break. Continue reading Ubuntu's full desktop OS coming to multi-core Android devices Ubuntu's full desktop OS coming to multi-core Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Ubuntu | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  If you've been keeping an eye on this tasty little computer, you'll know it's a pretty exciting concept already. To further sweeten the deal, it just got its own version of Fedora. A special "remix" edition has been ported over to the micro-machine by a team at Seneca College. Although there's already a Debian release for the diminutive device, the project's official blog states that Fedora Remix is the distribution it'll be recommending to users. The OS image fits on a 2GB memory card, and comes complete with a GUI, programming and system administration tools, web browser and other essential apps to get you going. If you want to see the Pi in action, there's a video after the break demonstrating the OS, along with a look at that user interface. As for that February 20th release date, sadly that seems less reliable. Continue reading Raspberry Pi wears a new Fedora (video) Raspberry Pi wears a new Fedora (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Electronista | Raspberry Pi | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Qualcomm this morning took the wraps off the fifth generation of its Gobi reference platform, which offers up LTE via FDD and TDD networks. It also plays nicely with past favorites, including the likes of HSPA+ and EV-DO, keeping your globe trotting self connected on that skinny laptop, tablet or convertible. The reference platform is designed to work with Windows 8 and Android devices and a number of processors, including, naturally, the San Diego-based company's own dual- and quad-core Snapdragons and good old x86. More information and lots of quotes from big name companies who think the bouncing new baby Gobi is just swell after the break. Continue reading Qualcomm's fifth gen Gobi unveiled, supports a Lollapalooza of LTE, 2G / 3G bands Qualcomm's fifth gen Gobi unveiled, supports a Lollapalooza of LTE, 2G / 3G bands originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
You've heard of singin' in the rain (and have likely seen the movie). You may have even attempted it once or twice, but tableting in the midst of a downpour? That doesn't exactly conjure the same whimsy and spontaneous dance numbers. Yet, Pantech's making such joyous, on-the-go content consumption possible with the aptly named Element. It's yet another addition to the growing stable of LTE devices propping up AT&T's newly expanded 4G fort. Rather than run the risk of this being seen as another garden-variety Honeycomb tablet, though, Pantech's imbued this guy with waterproofing.
Of course, that's not all this skinned Android slate's bringing to the party. With a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 CPU complemented by 1GB RAM, a 1024 x 768 TFT XGA display and a healthy 6,400mAh battery, this impermeable tab stands on equal spec footing with its post-PC peers. At $299 on two-year contract, it's certainly priced to sell, but should you dish out the dollars for a middle-ground tablet from the likes of a lesser-known manufacturer? Does a limited and possibly frivolous imperviousness to water warrant your attention? Should you stash that plastic until Pantech confirms an ETA for that Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade? Find all this out and more after the break, as we force this 8-incher to brave the elements.
Continue reading Pantech Element review Pantech Element review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Do you ever stop to think about all those plain, unloved surfaces in the world, which go through life without ever once being used to reflect a Flickr feed or Facebook wall? It amounts to hectares of wasted potential, but there is a solution. It's called LightBeam and it's a 'nomadic' pico projector that uses a webcam to track and reorient its display to suit any ad hoc surface -- the piece of paper in your hand, the cover of a book, or the picture frame on your desk. And just when you think you've seen it all before, the guy in the video after the break rotates a coffee mug to flip the channel. Handy, no? Continue reading LightBeam pico projector turns any surface into a display, any object into a remote (video) LightBeam pico projector turns any surface into a display, any object into a remote (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  It's that time of the year when Barnes & Noble's accountants reveal the figures for the quarter to determine if the age of print is over. Turns out there's some good news for bookseller. Overall sales for the chain increased five percent: the company took $2.4 billion through the cash registers. That was split $1.49 billion (up two percent) in high-street retail, online sales took $420 million (up 32 percent year-on-year) and the Nook in all its forms and glories took $542 million (up 38 percent). The only grey cloud was that sales in college-only stores dropped three percent, thanks in part to renting textbooks to impecunious freshmen. They're probably all using that money on buying digital content on their Nooks: digital content purchases increased by 85 percent in a single quarter. Like rival Amazon, it wouldn't release how many devices were sold, except to say it likely maintained its market share. However, all of that (pretty) good news is a bit of a smokescreen: B&N won't reveal its profits after interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization has been deducted. Pre ITDA income dropped 12 percent from the same period in 2011 and the company has revealed that the BN.com and Nook businesses made a combined loss of $94 million, with the annual income looking toward a loss Continue reading Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Looks like those murmurings of a lower-priced Nook Tablet with only 8GB of storage were right on, though, the reduced RAM was conveniently left out. In most ways it seems the updated Android slate is identical to its 16GB forebearer, except that by slashing the storage and memory in half Barnes & Noble has managed to meet the Kindle Fire on price -- $199. And, unlike the Fire, the Nook sports a microSD slot, so the loss of 8GB of storage isn't necessarily a huge deal. In addition to the new Nook Tablet, the Color is getting a rather significant price cut to just $169, making it cheaper than the Kindle Touch without ads. Looks like the brick-and-mortar stalwart has finally thrown down the pricing gauntlet. The lower-priced tab is available today both online and in Barnes & Noble stores, with other retailers to join the parade soon. Check out the complete PR after the break. Continue reading Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169 Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Transistors -- the basic building block of the complex electronic devices around you. Literally billions of them make up that Core i7 in your gaming rig and Moore's law says that number will double every 18 months as they get smaller and smaller. Researchers at the University of New South Wales may have found the limit of this basic computational rule however, by creating the world's first single atom transistor. A single phosphorus atom was placed into a silicon lattice and read with a pair of extremely tiny silicon leads that allowed them to observe both its transistor behavior and its quantum state. Presumably this spells the end of the road for Moore's Law, as it would seem all but impossible to shrink transistors any farther. But, it could also points to a future featuring miniaturized solid-state quantum computers. Single atom transistors point to the future of quantum computers, death of Moore's law originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Bloomberg | Nature Nanotechnology | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We've seen it, touched it and we fully expect it'll be turning heads in Barcelona next week, but until now Qualcomm's Krait chip has largely escaped the rigors of independent benchmarking. Fortunately, AnandTech has to come to our rescue once again with a characteristically thorough analysis at the source link. Those blue and green charts can speak for themselves, but if you're in a rush then here's the rub of it: the Krait truly is a next-gen SoC, with the dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8960-powered reference handset delivering an "insane performance advantage" of between 20 percent and 240 percent on CPU benchmarks. As we glimpsed recently, graphics performance is somewhat less ground-breaking but still very healthy, with the 28nm process allowing the Adreno 225 GPU to run at up to 400MHz, versus 266MHz on its Adreno 220 predecessor. Oh yes, this is going to be one mother of an MWC. Qualcomm Krait S4 SoC fully benchmarked, diagnosed as 'insane' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | AnandTech | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Korean newspaper ETNews is developing a reputation for bold claims, the latest being that Samsung's "answer" to iCloud, S-Cloud has been significantly delayed. SDS, the conglomerate's IT infrastructure division had originally been tasked to build the network, but its work was found to be "unsuitable." After the setback, Samsung's Media Solution Center had to enlist KT, operators of public cloud services in Korea and Amazon to help move things forward. An unnamed "cloud industry" source who spoke to the daily pointed out that one of the burdens of releasing so many ( oh so many) devices is that the company has to work a lot harder to ensure all of them are compatible with any unified cloud service -- but them's the breaks, eh? Samsung's iCloud rival delayed after in-house service deemed 'unsuitable' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Sammy Hub | ET News | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | After touring the exhibition circuit for what seems like an eternity, PlayBook OS 2.0 is finally ready to settle down and make itself available for download. Check for updates via Settings on your tablet and you should see it sitting there, wearing last season's fashions but nevertheless looking every inch the major OTA update that it is. Expect improvements like native email, calendar and contacts, integration with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, some newfangled Bridge functions, and access to the first crop of Android apps in BB App World. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 now ready for download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink CrackBerry | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  We've seen the Sony Xperia S before, heck, we've even gotten our grubby mitts on it. The Xperia S UI, on the other hand, has been a bit of an elusive beast. That is, until now -- the tech world's very own out-of-focus paparazzi caught a look at the handset's upcoming UI, revealing a slightly blurry view of the Xperia S ' finer details. The UI is apparently being christened "UXP NXT" and is slathered on top of Android 2.3, though a 4.0 update is reportedly on the way. The video shows off the home and lock screens, gallery, music player and a new rendition of Timescape. Anywho, feel free to check out the above vid in all its blurrycam glory. Xperia S UI poses for Mr. Blurrycam, calls itself 'UXP NXT' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink PhoneArena | YouTube, XperiaBlog | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Iowa. Fertile home to 14 million acres of corn, nine million acres of soybeans, and -- if the FCC looks favorably on a recent application from Farmer Google -- a blooming array of 15-foot satellite dishes too. The request for a "receive only earth station" comes from Google Fiber, and the bands it hopes to receive are typical satellite TV frequencies, hinting that the purpose of the station will be to receive audio and video content that will then be piped through a high-speed fiber data service. First stop, Kansas City! Google looks to plant a field of satellite dishes in Iowa originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | DataCenterKnowledge | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
