|  |  |  | | | | | Engadget | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  If you've just picked up a MacBook Pro with Retina display or a 2012-era MacBook Air, you may be jonesing for a matching external hard drive to take advantage of that much-awaited USB 3.0 support. G-Technology has you covered -- and how. Updated versions of the laptop-oriented G-Drive Mini, Mobile and Slim (you're looking at the Mobile up top) all roll in the higher peak speeds and progressively trade raw speed as well as 1TB capacities for sleekness, while the twin-drive, 1.5TB G-RAID Mini will tax that 5Gbps bandwidth without becoming too ungainly. Not taking your external storage on the road? The single-disk G-Drive now climbs to 4TB in addition to jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, and the dual-drive G-RAID will serve up as much as 8TB at the newly brisk speeds. All but the G-Drive Slim support FireWire to ease those jitters over transitioning from old to new, although they won't all arrive at the same time. Most of the G-Drive and G-RAID gear will be showing up in August at prices between $110 and $810, but the two Mini-labelled drives could be a bit late to the party with a less defined summer target. You can get the full scoop after the break. Continue reading G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The last time we heard from ASUS, the company was on a tear at Computex, unveiling Windows 8 device after Windows 8 device. Looking back, it seems quaint that its mobile lineup was so recently dominated by Android tablets -- and that the Transformer series was once regarded as unique for having detachable keyboard docks. But this week, at least, it's back to Android for ASUS: the company just announced that the Transformer Pad Infinity announced back at Mobile World Congress is finally going on sale here in the US. It's expected to hit shelves the week of July 16th, starting at $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB version. Like other Transformer tabs, the accompanying dock will sell separately for $149. We've got a rundown of the full specs after the break, and as it turns out, we've also been testing one for the past week. So once you're done browsing those official press shots, head on over to our full review for benchmarks, impressions and many, many more photos. Continue reading ASUS' high-end Transformer Pad TF700 is coming to the US next month for $499 and up ASUS' high-end Transformer Pad TF700 is coming to the US next month for $499 and up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  When ASUS first teased the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 back at CES, many customers looked on, simmering with rage. You see, only several weeks earlier the company started selling the Transformer Prime, a top-tier tablet priced at a not-so-cheap $500. It was a state-of-the-art product...until ASUS unveiled the TF700, a tablet that was similar, only better. It, too, has a Tegra 3 chip and 8-megapixel camera, but it adds a higher-res, 1920 x 1200 display and promises improved signal reception, a pain point for the Prime. Little did those disgruntled Prime owners know it would actually be a long time before the TF700 ever became available. Now, we're finally hearing it will go on sale in the US in mid-July, at which point the Prime is expected to drop in price before it gets discontinued. But is the TF700 all that much of an improvement over the original? And how does it stack up against comparably priced tablets, such as the new iPad, Acer Iconia Tab A700 and Toshiba Excite 10? Check out our early review to find out. Continue reading ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The rumor that Japanese electronic giants Panasonic and Sony would team up on OLED HDTV technology is confirmed, as they've just issued a press release indicating plans to establish mass production in 2013. The two have worked separately on different aspects of the technology, and now they'll put their collective heads together on the core and printing technologies necessary to produce the panels. Still, while they will be BFFs behind the scenes don't expect any crazy cross-branding of releases, as the release notes each company plans to "develop and commercialize its own competitive, high-performance, next-generation OLED televisions and large-sized displays." Can this combination help them catch up to individual might of Korean counterparts Samsung and LG? Those two will individually put super-skinny, ultra high contrast ratio OLED HDTVs on store shelves this year, but Panasonic / Sony can get prices down from the $10k~ range faster we're sure consumers will be able to overlook their tardiness to market. Developing... Continue reading Sony, Panasonic OLED partnership is official, aims for mass production in 2013 Sony, Panasonic OLED partnership is official, aims for mass production in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Sony | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Sony mentioned during CES 2012 that it would bring its Google TV-powered hardware to Europe this summer, and now it's official. Along with Google, it's announced preorders are available for the $200/£200 NSZ-GS7 internet streaming set-top box in the US and UK (showing a ship date of July 9th for now), with plans to launch in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and Netherlands later this year. UK users can expect localized content from The Guardian among other sources, and more reveals are promised at Google I/O this week. There's an internationally-aimed trailer (embedded after the break) and more information from Sony and Google at their respective sites, we'll see if the mix of reworked hardware and updated software makes this venture more successful than the last round. Continue reading Google TV goes international, Sony NSZ-GS7 set-top box up for preorder in the US and UK Google TV goes international, Sony NSZ-GS7 set-top box up for preorder in the US and UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google TV Blog, Sony Store | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sony mentioned during CES 2012 that its Google TV-powered hardware would come to Europe this summer, and now it's official. Along with Google, it's announced preorders are available for the $200/£200/$199 NSZ-GS7 internet streaming set-top box in the US and UK (showing a ship date of July 9th, Sony says it should hit stores July 22nd), with plans to launch in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and Netherlands later this year. The NSZ-GP9 with integrated Blu-ray player will arrive in October, priced at £280/€300/$299. UK users can expect localized content from The Guardian among other sources, and more reveals are promised at Google I/O this week. There's an internationally-aimed trailer (embedded after the break) and more information from Sony and Google at their respective sites, we'll see if the mix of reworked hardware and updated software makes this venture more successful than the last round. Continue reading Google TV goes international, Sony NSZ-GS7 set-top box up for preorder in the US and UK Google TV goes international, Sony NSZ-GS7 set-top box up for preorder in the US and UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google TV Blog, Sony Store, Sony UK, Sony US | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  You didn't think ASUS pushed its souped up Transformer slate through federal approval for the sake of its health, did you? No, if Best Buy's online store has anything to say about it, the Transformer Pad Infinity's FCC excursion was preparing it for sale. It's not quite ready yet, but when it is, Best Buy will apparently be handing the slab out for $599 and change, netting buyers 64GB of storage, NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor and a 1,920 x 1,200 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display. The listing appears to be for the WiFi-only version of the tablet, with no mention of the Snapdragon S4-equipped LTE variant that ASUS announced earlier this year. According to the product page, the unreleased hardware is currently "sold out online," but at least you know how many pennies you'll need to pinch. Check it out at the source link below.
[Thanks, Uly] Asus Transformer Pad Infinity shows up at Best Buy, commands $600 price tag, 64GB of storage originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Best Buy | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You didn't think ASUS pushed its souped up Transformer slate though federal approval for its health, did you? No, if Best Buy's online store has anything to say about it, the Transformer Pad Infinity's FCC excursion was preparing it for sale. It's not quite ready yet, but when it is, Best Buy will apparently be handing the slab out for $599 and change, netting buyers 64GB of memory, NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor and a 1,920 x 1,200 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display. The listing appears to be for the WiFi-only version of the tablet, with no mention of the Snapdragon S4-equipped LTE variant that ASUS announced earlier this year. According to the product page, the unreleased hardware is currently "sold out online," but at least you know how many pennies you'll need to pinch. Check it out at the source link below.
[Thanks, Uly] Asus Transformer Pad Infinity shows up at Best Buy, commands $600 price tag, 64GB of memory originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Best Buy | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  You can strap the GoPro HD Hero 2 to any number of things to document your extreme adventures in high definition. However, for all of the improvements in the second version, we found it to be distractingly heavy, difficult to mount and with audio that left plenty to the imagination. Still, a few days of testing, even with some aerial combat thrown in, can't match constant use over the last six months. So, why not tell us how you've found using this thing on a daily basis and if you could, what would you change about it? How would you change the GoPro Hero HD 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 22:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy! Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of June 18th, 2012 Refresh Roundup: week of June 18th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.  If you hadn't been paying too much attention to the wide swath of tablets and clamshells (and mashups of the two) that Microsoft is targeting with Windows 8 and Windows RT, then the announcement of Surface contained many surprises. If you have, then there were probably far fewer surprises. But even if you knew just about everything about Windows 8 and Windows RT, you were probably a bit surprised to see Microsoft jump in with its own pair of devices to support the flavors of the imminent Windows upgrades supporting Intel and ARM processors. After all, the fundamental business model of Windows has relied upon licensing to third parties. Ballmer himself has noted in the past that products that ship in the hundreds of millions (or more) of units per year lend themselves well to the licensing model as opposed to the vertical integration model most notably pursued by Apple among Microsoft's main competitors. Continue reading Switched On: Surface tension Switched On: Surface tension originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  You've likely read our review of Sony's Xperia Ion by now, so just consider this a reminder for those who've yet to peruse it. After nearly half a year from being christened at CES, the Ion can officially be purchased today in the US. Agreeing to a two-year commitment and laying out 100 smackers at AT&T -- or just 50 at Sony or Best Buy -- will net you this handset and its curious match-up of dated and up-to-date specs. On the one hand, this Xperia disappointingly runs Android Gingerbread (2.3.7) atop a dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S3 processor. However, it also packs a 4.6-inch HD Reality display (1280 x 720), 1,900mAh battery, 1GB of RAM, a 12MP (720p video) Exmor R sensor-loaded rear shooter, NFC and PlayStation certification. Hit up your local AT&T, Best Buy or Sony store to see if it feels better in your hand than it did in ours, or shop for it online at the source links below.
[Thanks, Jason & Oliver] Continue reading PSA: Sony Xperia Ion lands in US today, yours starting at $50 with two-years of commitment PSA: Sony Xperia Ion lands in US today, yours starting at $50 with two-years of commitment originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Sony, AT&T, Best Buy | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The Hulu Plus app for Android has been updated, and after adding tablets in the last update it now officially supports a few more devices, most notably the Galaxy S II family and Galaxy Tab 2, among others. While sideloading the APK previously worked for some unsupported hardware, now they can be directly installed from the market. Also noted in the changelog for this version are improved support for 7-inch tablets, and high resolution screens. Hey, we wonder if any new 7-inch Android tablets with high resolution screens might be arriving soon?
[Thanks, Lee] Hulu Plus Android app tweaked for 7-inch, high res screens, officially supports more devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google Play | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  If you're a UK resident, missed out a ticket to the London 2012 Olympics and find the extensive home and mobile coverage to be lacking in pixels have no fear -- free tickets are available for Super Hi-Vision screenings at three locations. While certain days and times are already fully booked, you can still get one of the first public glimpses of NHK's 8K Ultra HDTV technology at the BBC Radio Theatre, BBC Scotland (Glasgow) and the National Media Musuem in Bradford (other viewing locations are in Japan and Washington D.C.) Before the games get started, the Radio Theater is screening a London Prepares promo from July 23rd to the 28th. During the games (July 28th - August 12th) all will have highlights of the previous day's action from the Aquatic Centre, Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, and Basketball Arena plus clips of the Opening Ceremony. The lone live feed is scheduled for Sunday July 29th, from the Aquatics Centre. Sure, you could be paying a fortune for scalped passes to be in the house when Usain Bolt, Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps are doing their thing, or you could be enjoying 33MP video and 22.2 channel surround sound in one of the custom setups TechRadar previewed in March. Your choice. UK 2012 Olympics Super Hi-Vision tickets are available, grab a seat for some Ultra HDTV originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Recombu | National Media Museum, BBC Scotland, Radio Theatre | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. But that adage, such a truism when applied to interpersonal relationships, doesn't quite carry the same weight when extended to the intimacy between expectant geek and promised hardware. So here we are, six months later: CES has long passed, the One X and Galaxy S III have been revealed, and the Android landscape is now decidedly governed by Ice Cream Sandwich. A veritable eternity has passed since Sony first introduced the AT&T-bound Xperia Ion, its LTE flagship for the US market, muting much of the initial buzz surrounding the handset. So, why choose now to bow a smartphone that's already been outshone by more recent and robust contenders? Perhaps it's simply a case of better late than never. But surely after all of that time, both parties could've managed to ship it with Android 4.0 and not the dated 2.3.7 build of Gingerbread that we get instead. The Ion's aging OS and 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 CPU may be a nod to mobile's past, but the rest of its internals paint a more forward-thinking picture. This 4.6-inch Sony-bred device boasts a 1280 x 720 HD Reality display, 720p webcam / 12-megapixel rear camera with Exmor R sensor, PlayStation Certification, 16GB of storage plus 1GB RAM, a 1,900mAh battery and NFC. For that spec mix, you'd expect the Ion's on contract cost to double up on the Benjamins, but instead it's been priced to sell at an attractive $99 -- much like the Lumia 900. Will that retail positioning hurt or help its prospects? Can the Ion effectively straddle two worlds, carving out an identity for itself and attracting a defined market segment? Or will this hodgepodge of internals prove too inconsistent for any demographic, save, perhaps, bargain hunters? Find the answers to those questions and more below. Continue reading Sony Xperia Ion review: an Android handset with a split personality Sony Xperia Ion review: an Android handset with a split personality originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Back in May, Amazon put a call out for budding screenwriters to submit their ideas for an original comedy or children's series. Now, four of the submissions have been marked up on the Amazon Series Development Slate, with more being added to a "consider" list. The chosen projects comprise three comedies, and one preschooler's show. By getting the Amazonian thumbs-up, the ideas receive $10,000 to extend the initial option, assistance to develop the script, and potentially a pilot episode. So, we might not be seeing them on our screens / displays just yet, but we're sure we're not the only ones paying close attention. Amazon Studios adds first four original shows to its 'development slate' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Next Web | AS Hollywonk blog, Amazon Studios | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Ah, smartphones -- the delightful little slates carry our contacts, our content -- even our cash, and they still fit right in our pockets. No surprise then, that a lost or stolen phone can be a minor disaster -- or a major security risk (just ask the President). Now that soldiers are packing them to send GPS coordinates or situational images in the field -- on top of using them at home -- DARPA has enlisted security company Invincea to fortify the devices. Its first effort, encrypting OS files and filling the memory of a lost phone with worthless data, has already been deployed to 3,000 troops in Afghanistan. Its next target is to cloister apps into virtual rooms within the OS, locking off access to sensitive parts of the phone like its GPS or contact lists. That would keep any nasty bits of malware from potentially gaining root privileges so soldiers can fight, and Facebook, without compromise. Military hunting smartphone safety to hold off enemy bugs, spooks originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jun 2012 04:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | New York Times | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
