|  |  |  | | | | | Engadget | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dreams are nice. Yachts are better. So while you cling to far-flung notions that you'll ever truly know what 'money to burn' means, the Barry Dillers of our world are crisscrossing international waters, drenching models with diamonds and dropping their universal controllers in the hot tub with abandon. Rescuing these rapscallion, modern-day robber barons from the pitfalls of excess is Crestron, with its UFO Waterproof Remote made specifically for H2O hanky panky. The disc-shaped unit, which admittedly looks more like a pool toy than high-end control hub, comes encased in a rubberized shell and features a 2.8-inch display, giving Greek shipping heirs and their ilk instant access to lighting, security systems, A/V equipment and thermostats from the comforts of their sun deck jacuzzi. Alright, so the 1% aren't the company's sole market base, as the unit's also ideally positioned for use in hospitals, owing to its ability for easy sterilization. But let's be honest, the real reason this floating controller shares a frisbee-like shape is aerodynamics. All the better to hit your staff with, right Ms. Campbell? Official PR and its hydrophobic emphasis after the break. Continue reading UFO Waterproof Remote found floating in the company of the rich and famous UFO Waterproof Remote found floating in the company of the rich and famous originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | While not quite the fastest commercially available e-bike in the world as some have suggested (as far as we can tell, that claim belongs to a DIY kit out of Taiwan by a company called Cyclone), the Specialized Turbo is still a speedy little beast. In fact, it's fast enough to find itself on the wrong side of the law both here in the US and across most of Europe. The 250 W rear hub motor is powerful enough to get this guy up to about 28 MPH, or 8 MPH over the legal limit here in America. It's the other features, though, that make this guy particularly interesting. The frame has integrated LED head and tail lights, regenerative breaking and the 342 Wh battery can be juiced in just two hours from an outlet. There's even a backlit display that lets you monitor charge and assistance level, as well as standard bike computer stats like speed, distance and time. Oh, and it even supports ANT+ for wirelessly connecting with your existing accessories. The Specialized Turbo is expected to land in some European nations in May for €5,499. Check out the video after the break to see it in action. Continue reading Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video) Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Inhabitat, Gizmodo |  BikeRadar, Specialized | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  To be fair, things have... changed a bit since we heard back in November that the Xperia handset line would be getting Ice Cream Sandwich by March of 2012. Specifically, Sony Ericsson is no more, and it's up to Sony Mobile alone to continue the torch carrying. At any rate, the outfit has made clear today that it'll be mid-April at the earliest before any of the Xperia smartphones see an Android 4.0 update, with the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray amongst the first on deck. We're told that the updates will start hitting that trio in the middle of next month, with every last owner to be gifted in the four to six weeks following. Beyond that, the Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Pro and Xperia Active will start seeing ICS "from the end of May / early June." You know, pretty much right when Android 5.0 will be unveiled. Sony's Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich rollout pushed to mid-April (and beyond) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Mobile Burn | Sony Xperia Product Blog | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | When Lenovo took the wraps off its IdeaPad U310 and U410 at CES, we were left feeling happy / sad. On the one hand, we were dismayed by the half-hearted inclusion of a memory card slot, but the company did earn high marks for sticking to that sleek Ultrabook form factor and pricing the duo at a $700 entry point. Now that luxurious-looking laptop pair's making another public appearance, stopping by the FCC for a step and repeat and splaying its guts and user manual in the process. While the filings reveal no surprise specs for these 13- and 14-inchers -- those internal goodies were divulged back in January -- this Commission pit stop is a solid indication that all systems are go for a planned May launch. Be sure to hit up the source below to trawl the RF reports if diagnostics get you hot under the collar. Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and U410 undress for the FCC's czars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | FCC | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | To say that Chevy's Volt hasn't had the smoothest inaugural year would be an understatement, but over on the other side of the pond, things couldn't be going more swimmingly for its badge-engineered cousin, the Opel Ampera. Sales are reportedly brisk with over 7,000 Europeans preordering the electrified hatchback, prompting the company to push its 2012 sales target from 8,000 to 10,000 units -- matching the figure Chevy had initially set, and then missed for its variant here in the US of A. That got us thinking, are Europeans the electrified forward-thinking mavericks we think they are? Or have they simply fallen prey to the Ampera's far better looks? Decide in the comments below. Opel Ampera popular in ye old continent, likely to meet sales goals unlike Volt originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Autoblog, Inhabitat | Plug-in Cars | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We heard last year that China was approaching 900 million mobile phone subscribers, and it looks like it's now finally hit the big one. The country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed today that, as of the end of February, there were more than a billion mobile subscribers in the country (1.01 billion, to be specific). As the AFP notes, that's individual subscriptions, which includes users with more than one phone, but any way you slice it that's a whole lot of cellphone users. Of those, 144 million are on 3G networks, which is fully double the number from April of 2011. Not surprisingly, much of that growth comes at the expense of landline phones, which have dropped a further 828,000 in the first two months of the year to 284.3 million. Internet use also continues to be on the upswing, with more than half a billion people having internet access of some sort, and 154.96 million having broadband access (up nearly five million during those same two months). China officially tops one billion mobile subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | AFP, China Daily | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Friendly reminder here, folks. As expected, AT&T has opened the pre-order floodgates for the Nokia Lumia 900 today ahead of its April 8th release in the US. Interested parties can secure their reservation for the Window Phone 7.5-loaded device at either AT&T's retail or online stores. While you'll be able to snag one in either matter black or cyan blue, we'd be remiss not to point out that the white version (slated for an April 22nd release) isn't yet on offer. If you'll recall, parting with $100, along with agreeing to a two-year contract is all it'll cost ya' to get in on the action. Be sure to let us know if you plan on reaching for the "light" in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in.] AT&T now accepting Lumia 900 pre-orders, only those seeking cyan or black need apply originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | AT&T | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Looking for a shortcut to Netflix's home on the web? Try hitting up DVD.com -- it'll take you there, for now. The latest address to join the family of Netflix redirects actually brings you to a subdomain -- dvd.netflix.com -- suggesting that the company could once again be planning to split its streaming and physical media services, at least from an access perspective. A shareholder letter lists the company's U.S. DVD subscriptions at 11.17 million at the end of Q4, bringing in a total of $370 million in revenue, with a profit of $194 million. Compare this to domestic streaming, which represents $476 million in revenue with a mere $52 million profit, and it's clear that the DVD rental market is still quite strong. So what could this latest domain acquisition mean for snail mail subscribers? DVD-only customers may soon have a new site to call home, with focused content and perhaps an upsell opportunity or two. At the very least, it certainly can't hurt when it comes to SEO. Netflix snags DVD.com domain, invests in the future of optical media originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink TechCrunch | DomainNameWire | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Best of the best, best of the worst and best thing we didn't need. Those are some ringing endorsements we've got for you in this week's IRL. On the more enthusiastic end of the spectrum there's Darren, who finally found a dual-band router with strong enough range to service all three floors of his new home. Terrence is closing in on his fourth year using Evernote, the "least bad" note-taking app of the bunch. As for James, well, has he ever met a piece of audio equipment he didn't like? Continue reading IRL: Evernote, Netgear N900 and FiiO's E17 headphone amplifier IRL: Evernote, Netgear N900 and FiiO's E17 headphone amplifier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | What would you pay for the ability to capture cinema quality 4K video? $36,000? $18,000? Try $9,000. That's the expected price of Sony's rumored NEX-FS700E, which could launch at NAB next month with a June ship date. EOSHD reports that the camera will pipe 4K video to a dedicated external recorder over 3G HD-SDI. It will reportedly use the same NEX E-mount as its predecessor, the FS100, and may include a trio of neutral density filters to increase versatility. We haven't been able to track down an image of the rumored cinema cam (the model in that image above looks identical to the FS100), but we wouldn't be surprised to see another detail or two leak out before the broadcast community's annual Vegas gathering kicks off in a little over two weeks. For its part, Canon is also expected to announce a 4K EOS-format DSLR at NAB, as a less-expensive alternative to the $16,000 C300, while RED's Scarlet already has 4K capabilities, and a $9,000 price tag.
[Thanks, Andrew]Sony to launch NEX-FS700E 4K cinema camera for $9,000 at NAB? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | EOSHD | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not a fan of that 5-inch, IPS display on the Optimus Vu? Perhaps, you'd be more interested in a smaller, lesser-specced member of the family. According to PocketNow, the Optimus Elite is sprinting its way toward The Now Network and Virgin Mobile, with an expected launch on the former "rather soon" and the latter as early as May. The Elite is allegedly packing some run-of-the-mill features, including a 3.5-inch, HVGA screen alongside a five-megapixel rear shooter and an 800Mhz CPU. Both flavors look identical, save for Virgin's prepaid flavor going with a darker look, which you can gander at by jumping past the break. Continue reading LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | PocketNow | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  It's been some time since we heard much from iRiver but the PMP maker is keeping busy with the snow-white B100. This capacitive touchscreen media player will offer up to 36 hours of music playback, or eight and a half hours of video watching. The 3.1-inch TFT screen has a resolution of 320 x 480, but it's backed up by a (relatively) long list of media codecs, including OGG, WAV, APE and ASF compatibility. If you're sick of limited playback options, you might want to consider downscaling those screen-size desires for improved format freedom. The PMP launches today, with prices starting at 11,800 yen (around $144) for the 4GB model, while the 8GB version will set you back 13,800 yen (around $168) at online Japanese retailer, Rakuten. The Google-translated PR awaits your quizzical looks below. Continue reading iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink AV Watch (translated) | iRiver (translated) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DoubleTwist is certainly still one of the better music management options for Android, and it just keeps improving. Two days ago the player app got an update and now it can hook into Google Music, though, it only recognizes songs that you've checked for offline access from within the Google app. An unfortunate restriction, but at least your tracks don't disappear into the ether if you prefer to play back your tunes via DoubleTwist. There's also new functionality coming to what is now less an app than an ecosystem, thanks to the just released DoubleTwist Alarm Clock. The functionality is pretty much what you'd expect -- set a time and pick a song from your DoubleTwist library to gently rouse you from your slumber (or kick your butt out of bed). The Alarm Clock is just $0.99 in the Play Market right now for the first 10,000 customers. After that it'll go up to $1.99. So don't waste any time, go download it now.
DoubleTwist adds Google Music support, gets an alarm clock app originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. has announced that it will begin streamlining its American and European operations after posting an 7.1 billion Yen ($86 million dollar) extraordinary loss for the 2011 year. The move is expected to create a "smaller company positioned for sustained profitability" with the company planning a shift to a new "digital content" strategy. It'll cancel work on new, forthcoming titles and just concentrate on key earners like the Sonic, Football Manager and Total War franchises. There's no official word on if it'll involve job losses, but the company is setting aside 4.9 billion yen ($59.7 million) of that loss figure in order to cover the costs of the corporate reorganization. In the meantime, we're off to pour one out for one of our childhood staples. Sega streamlines US, European operations after 2011 figures predict $86 million loss originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Gamesindustry | Sega (PDF), (2) (PDF) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Some people got the wrong idea yesterday when RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins said the company was refocusing on the enterprise market and would stop trying to be "all things to all people." Many took the post-earnings call comment to mean that RIM would be exiting the consumer market, an assumption that didn't seem like much of a stretch considering its failure to capture the imagination of users outside the office place. Things weren't made any better when Heins seemingly left the door open for the manufacturer to leave the hardware business entirely. However, in a statement, managing director of global sales and regional marketing Patrick Spence clarified that "the claim that RIM has said it will withdraw from the consumer market is wholly misleading." He continued to explain that, "whilst we announced plans to refocus our efforts on our core strengths, and on our enterprise customer base, we were very explicit that we will continue to build on our strengths to go after targeted consumer segments." In particular there still seems to be hope that BBM can become a staple in the lives of young trend setters, but it'll probably need some help from cross platform clients to do so.
RIM sticking with consumer goods, just 'refocusing' on enterprise originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | The Register, Pocket Lint | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | An unreleased gadget is pretty easy to conceal, but an upcoming automobile? Not so much. Thanks to some quick reflexes, you're looking at the first spy shots of Fisker's second and smaller plug-in hybrid sedan, heretofore known as Project Nina. Last we heard, the BMW-powered auto had been put on life-support, as the remainder of the company's DOE loan evaporated as it failed to meet timely deadlines in bringing its first EV, the Karma, to market. That could mean the above is a mere concept designed to woo potential investors -- but with less than a week before its supposed New York auto show debut, it won't be long until we know for sure. Until then, ogle at more eye candy of the beaut over at Autoblog in the source link below. Fisker's Project Nina exposed ahead of New York Auto Show debut originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Autoblog | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You know those shows where we're all iPad this, iPhone that? This isn't one of them. Today we're doing it all, heading to the department store of consumer electronics news categoies and picking random stuff off the shelves of all ten floors to chat about until someone from the UK calls or tweets @us to distract us into talking about something else. And yes, we did stop by the Apple floor for a few minutes too. So sue us (lawsuit joke).
Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guests: Dana Wollman, Dan Cooper, Richard Lai
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Orbital - Never
00:02:55 - The Engadget Show 31: Douglas Rushkoff, Sony, iRobot, MWC and air combat
00:04:58 - Sony pulls another game from PlayStation Store after new Vita exploit found
00:09:43 - Best Buy to close 50 big box US retail stores, open 100 Mobile stand-alone outlets in 2013
00:18:15 - Samsung ships five million Galaxy Notes in just five months
00:25:45 - RIM putting BlackBerry 10 test units in developers' hands in May
00:29:58 - Apple offers refund over Australian 4G iPad confusion
00:33:25 - Tim Cook pays a visit to a Foxconn factory, smiles for the camera
00:37:35 - Nokia unveils the Lumia 800 in China, calls it the 800C
00:42:39 - US Judge rejects Hasbro / ASUS sales ban, Transformer Prime prevails
01:03:46 - Boston Dynamics lies down with BigDog, gets giant fleas (video)
Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [ iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [ RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [ RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [ Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace. Engadget Podcast 287 - 03.29.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mountain View has been leaking Google Drive details like a glacial trickle, but we still have no firm notion of how much free cloud storage it'll bring or just how deeply it'll be integrated with other services. There have been rumors of a Dropbox-like 2GB limit, but now a screenshot purporting to show the beta version's main welcome page points to a healthy 5GB instead. Moreover, Google's Support portal mentions that the Drive app for Android will have document-editing capabilities, which brings us back to the question of whether this is a whole new service, or an add-on to Google Docs or indeed a complete re-branding of Google's documents platform. Regardless, calling it 'Drive' still makes it sound like sat nav. Google Drive leaks suggest 5GB free storage, in-app document editing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Talk Android, TheNextWeb | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Okay, it's only 3 months till your glorious 21st birthday, so near, yet technology has to come along and rain on your parade. You might think you look legal, but if claims by engineers at Face.com are to be believed, they're not having it. Using the firm's face recognition technology and a new API, they believe it can determine age based on a photo. The technology is open to all developers who might want to add age restriction into their apps, although it's unlikely that you would want to rely on this as your sole method of verification. The algorithm takes a number of factors into account, such as face shape, and skin smoothness, so at the very least you'll be able to find out if your t-zone routine is working. Hit up the more coverage, where there's a free iOS app to learn the harsh reality. Liquor stores will laugh in the Face.com at your fake ID originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink SlashGear | VentureBeat, Face.com | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Okay, it's only three months 'till your glorious twenty-first birthday, so near, yet technology has to come along and rain on your parade. You might think you look legal, but if claims by engineers at Face.com are to be believed, they're not having it. Using the firm's face recognition technology and a new API, they believe it can determine age based on a photo. The technology is open to all developers who might want to add age restriction into their apps, although it's unlikely that you would want to rely on this as your sole method of verification. The algorithm takes a number of factors into account, such as face shape, and skin smoothness, so at the very least you'll be able to find out if your t-zone routine is working. Hit up the more coverage link, where there's a free iOS app to learn the harsh reality. Liquor stores will laugh in the Face.com at your fake ID originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink SlashGear | VentureBeat, Face.com | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | If you've enjoyed decrypting the often frustratingly skewed (and occasionally humorously juxtaposed) reCAPTCHAs, you might be a bit sad to learn that Google is mixing things up with some rather more boring numerals. The combinations of two words are typically used as part of a registration form to ensure the registrant is, indeed, human. Google is now replacing one of the words in some of its reCAPTCHA forms with photos gleaned from Street View service. Google says it uses these numbers internally to improve the accuracy of Street View and that pulling them into reCAPTCHAs is part of an "experiment" to "determine if using imagery might also be an effective way to further refine our tools for fighting machine and bot-related abuse online."
In other words, Google's bots are already capable of decoding these numbers, which makes this all sound like a bit of a challenge to the rest of the OCR-loving coders in the world. Any takers?
[Image Credit: dirtbag] Google reCAPTCHAs now featuring Street View addresses, 221b Baker St. to get even more famous originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink TechCrunch | BlackHat World Forums | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Itching to get your hands on HTC's new breed of smartphones? Best get yourself over to Germany then, as a batch of the flagship One X and its (slightly) smaller brother, the One S, are up for sale -- early. Mediamarkt is where you'll need to go, with several stores also providing HTC One X models on the shop floor to play with. Better still, some excited Frenchmen have already performed the requisite packaging autopsy on the new plastic capsules, revealing (amongst other things) a new SIM pin that's -- logically -- shaped like a micro-SIM. You can marvel at all the rubber bands and plastic bags after the break. Continue reading HTC One X and One S on sale now in Germany, flagship gets unboxed in France (video) HTC One X and One S on sale now in Germany, flagship gets unboxed in France (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | HTC Hub, The Unwired | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You know those heady dreams of a new Samsung product launch today? Well consider them punctured. There's no new gadget to announce, but instead a teaming-up with UK retailer Phones 4u, offering a dedicated space for Samsung to dip its toes into retail waters. Located on London's Oxford Street -- and just around the corner from an Apple Store -- the shop-within-a-shop displays all of the Korean makers' big hitters, with several tables housing Galaxy Tab 10.1s, Galaxy Notes and Galaxy S IIs. The rest of that expansive galactic family dot the periphery of the room, but then you'd probably come here primarily to test-drive the aforementioned flagships. The tables themselves are dressed down; no pricing or carrier information clogging up the surfaces, just the devices and some Galaxy branding. Samsung's claimed the whole top floor and the shop is already training up dedicated Samsung staff to answer pressing questions like what's the point of the Galaxy Ace Plus whether that phone has Gorilla glass and when we can expect to see a Galaxy S III in the flesh. Apple has Apple Stores, Samsung has... this! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You know those heady dreams of a new Samsung product launch today? Well consider them punctured. There's no new gadgets to announce, but instead a teaming-up with UK retailer Phones 4u, offering a dedicated space for Samsung to dip its toes into retail waters. Located on London's Oxford Street -- and just around the corner from an Apple Store -- the shop-within-a-shop displays all of the Korean makers' big hitters, with several tables housing Galaxy Tab 10.1s, Galaxy Notes and Galaxy S IIs. The rest of that expansive galactic family dot the periphery of the room, but then you'd probably come here primarily to test-drive the aforementioned flagships. The tables themselves are dressed down; no pricing or carrier information clogging up the surfaces, just the devices and some Galaxy branding. Samsung's claimed the whole top floor and the shop is already training up dedicated Samsung staff to answer pressing questions like what's the point of the Galaxy Ace Plus whether that phone has Gorilla glass and when we can expect to see a Galaxy S III in the flesh. Apple has Apple Stores, Samsung has... this! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Given the amount of time we spent with the WIMM One smartwatch, you'd think we would have had enough fodder for a full-blown review. Alas, though, one critical piece was missing: apps. Not test apps, like a balance ball game, but honest to goodness apps from major third-party developers. As it happens, the app store still isn't live yet, but we did get to check out a concept app from Intuit, the company behind Mint.com (no TurboTax for this 1.41-inch display, sorry).
What can we say? When a device has a screen this tiny, the elevator pitch is going to be mighty brief. Here's how MicroMint works: just swipe left to right to see your balances for different accounts. There's no limit to how many it can display, and when you reach the end of the list, the app will just start cycling through again. As you can see in the video demo below, the app's performance is limited by the watch's 667MHz ARM11 CPU and 256MB RAM, which is to say you'll notice some lag as you swipe from one bank balance to another. And that's it. This is all the app does; don't expect to take advantage of Mint's other features, like budget-planning and mapping out savings goals (not that you'd want any graphs or itemized lists crammed onto that 160x160 screen).
For now, of course, this concept app is just that, a prototype. Intuit won't commit to releasing it, much less share any sort of timeline. Interestingly, though, David Siegel on Intuit's development team suggested to us that the app might be of more use when WIMM releases its next-gen watch with NFC. With that radio on board, he says, the app could potentially allow not just for balance-checking, but credit card payments as well. Additionally, the outfit is considering developing a similar app for the Sony SmartWatch, which also runs Android and supports Java-based apps. The only development hiccup, he says, would be adapting the app for Sony-specific APIs. That's a whole lot of ifs for one paragraph, though, so for now we'll leave you with a super quick hands-on video, just past the break.
Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Continue reading Intuit shows off MicroMint concept app for the WIMM One smartwatch, we go hands-on Intuit shows off MicroMint concept app for the WIMM One smartwatch, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As far as random number generators go, the traditional die is about as low tech as it gets. Or at least, it was. Gaming startup GIC has taken it upon itself to update the old chance cube by outfitting it with LED backlights, anti-cheat roll detection and Bluetooth connectivity. DICE+, as the shakers of tomorrow are called, will sell for between $30 and $40 when they launch later this year. Although the digital dice promise compatibility with iOS, Android, Symbian, Linux and Windows, GIC has yet to announce what platforms will be available at launch. We'll have to wait for E3 for the details, but the possibilities are intriguing -- hit the break to see the cubes in action. In the meantime, we'll be dreaming of Dungeons, Dragons, a digital D20 and Microsoft Surface. Continue reading DICE+ digital chance cubes rolling out at E3 DICE+ digital chance cubes rolling out at E3 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | DICE+ (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Using Plex as your media server software is great, with its ability to organize and transcode media for playback on a variety of devices, but what about platforms that still lack a compatible client? The freshest beta version of Plex Media Server fixes that by supporting DLNA, making it compatible right out of the box with many of the HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other connected devices released recently. There are some limitations when it's being used this way in terms of metadata and subtitle support, but we're pretty sure being able to access Plex at all from devices like the PS3 (as shown above), Xbox 360 and WDTV Live (the profiles it's been tested with so far) is worth it. Also featured in the beta is support for Silverlight Smooth Streaming, which comes in handy for the new Windows Phone 7 client app. Check out the blog post for all the details or just head to the download page to try it out yourself if you're on a Windows PC or Mac -- Linux builds are still being tested. Plex Media Server beta adds DLNA support, streams to PS3, Xbox 360, WP7 and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Plex blog, Get Plex | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sprint customer? Still supping from the 3G cup? Well if you were wondering if you'll ever get to try the sweet taste of LTE, wonder no more. The Now Network revealed a coverage map at the RCA Expo, and the image above was kindly grabbed by PC Mag's Sascha Segan. Those green areas are the locales that'll be getting LTE, and as you can see it's a fairly comprehensive -- though not altogether surprising -- spread. The rollout is said to be planned for completion by 2014, so you've still got time for that handset upgrade. Those of you in Montana or one of the many other blue areas on the map aren't entirely forgotten, though, as these regions will have roaming agreements in place, so no need for an extra contract just yet. Sprint outlines LTE coverage plans at RCA Expo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Technobuffalo | @saschasegan (Twitter) | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | While the promised Sony Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade rollout is quickly running out of March and into April for all models, the company has just unleashed a new beta version of the upgrade for Xperia Play owners. Following the alpha release in December and a beta update in February for the Arc S, Neo V and Ray, Sony has pushed this version for the Play to find out which games may need some work to be compatible with Android 4.0. The usual drawbacks remain however, so because this release requires unlocking your bootloader -- which will keep users from upgrading to the final ICS update when it comes out -- and it lacks such creature comforts as Google Mobile Services apps (Gmail, Google Maps, Face Unlock) it's intended for developers only. If your gamepad-equipped handset is staying official-upgrade only, you can safely check out a video of the beta ROM running on an Arc S embedded after the break and take this as a heads up that the final release is that much closer. Continue reading Sony outs Xperia Play ICS beta for unlocked phones, wants to know which games work Sony outs Xperia Play ICS beta for unlocked phones, wants to know which games work originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Sony Developer World | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ZTE's annual earnings report is out and it's a mixed bag for the Chinese company with aspirations to go west. Revenues grew 23 percent to 86.25 billion RMB ($13.7 billion) but net profit fell a hefty 36.6 percent to 2.06 billion RMB ($327 million). More than half of ZTE's operating revenue came from overseas as the company moves into the global space and, while some of that cash came from its smartphone business, much more poured in from the infrastructure arm that supplies LTE equipment to networks. At the same time, ZTE is having to deal with accusations that it sold $131 million worth of snooping gear to Iran to monitor its own citizens, forcing the company to limit its operations there -- although it insists this won't have any impact on its future income. Continue reading ZTE announces 2011 financials: turnover up, profits down, political scandals tricky ZTE announces 2011 financials: turnover up, profits down, political scandals tricky originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Next Web | ZTE, Reuters | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Taking cues from an ING Direct app that used its API, Bump Technologies has developed its own version of the mobile payments software, enabling phone-to-phone "Bump" transactions using PayPal. Yes, PayPal. That minor processing detail aside, the service appears to offer a fun solution for simplifying the fairly painful process of paying the check at group meals, or splitting a tank of gas with a friend. Both you and your bud need to have the app installed before you can beam that green, and there's no option to send payments remotely, though you could always use plain ole vanilla PayPal for that. The app is free, and if you have a checking account linked you won't have to deal with any fees. Bump Pay is iOS only "at launch" (read: it could be making its way to Android as well), so for now you'll need to bump the App Store to get folks paid. Bump Pay lets you tap a friend for cash originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink TechCrunch | Bump Pay | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Go figure -- Microsoft's Courier project lives again... as an exclusive app on Apple's iPad. FiftyThree, a company that features folks who previously worked on the aforesaid Courier initiative, has just put forth a monumental effort dubbed Paper. The app, which is available for free in the App Store, is a sophisticated sketchbook with a highly unique user interface that's seemingly designed with the budding artist in mind. Put simply, the company feels that this app is "where ideas begin," enabling users to capture mental light bulbs as sketches, diagrams, illustrations, notes or drawings before sharing them across the web.
Of course, "free" only gets you in the door; in-app purchases ($2 per brush, for example) keeps the creators in business, but it's unclear at this point if a paid edition will be offered for those who aren't much on cherry-picking what they do and don't want to pony up for. Not surprisingly, the app ships with native support for the new iPad's Retina display, and while fingers are welcome, a capacitive stylus is recommended. Eager to see more? Peek the video just after the break, and get your download on in the source link. Continue reading Paper: the iPad sketchbook app from the brains of Courier (video) Paper: the iPad sketchbook app from the brains of Courier (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink BGR | App Store, FiftyThree | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
