by Darren Murph, posted May 14th 2009 at 8:41AM
Clearwire may not be as ubiquitous as you'd like it to be, but it's taking a huge step forward in hopes of wildly expanding by linking up with Cisco. In essence, the two have joined hands in order to "enhance and expand CLEAR 4G mobile WiMAX services throughout the United States," with Cisco providing the core infrastructure and Clearwire providing the guidance. Potentially more interesting is the notion that Cisco's
Linksys brand will soon be delivering "new mobile WiMAX devices," such as routers that will presumably tune to WiFi and WiMAX waves. Specific product details are sorely absent, though Clearwire does reiterate that it's hoping to have
WiMAX service to more than 80 markets across the US by the end of next year.
by Tim Stevens, posted May 14th 2009 at 8:19AM
It wasn't long ago that RealNetworks and its kludgy Player software were the bane of computer users everywhere. But, a few
legal accusations later, Real is now the apple in the eye of every fair use advocate, fighting for the right for users to make legal copies of DVDs -- so long as you make them through its RealDVD software, of course. The company is now escalating its legal battle against Hollywood big wigs, suing the six major movie studios and the DVD Copy Control Association for anticompetitive activity, asking for monetary damages due to the sales it has lost since the industry asked for that initial injunction against RealDVD. We're not entirely sure who's going to come up on top of this one, but if
Kaleidescape can survive the CCA, maybe Real can too.
by Darren Murph, posted May 14th 2009 at 7:58AM
We've yet to see anything roll across LG's official wire, but oodles of legitimate UK sources are now reporting that LG's hotly anticipated
Viewty Smart is making its way out to Orange shops. Strangely, it seems as if pricing details are still being held captive (really? at this point?), but we fully anticipate at least a small premium for 8 megapixels in a phone. Oh, and if you really needed any more affirmation that a
12 megapixel smartphone was in the works from this company, LG also took the opportunity to nod its head and promise one for "later this year." Goodie, goodie.
[Via
Pocket-lint]
by Tim Stevens, posted May 14th 2009 at 7:26AM
Yeah, we know you. You devoured all 50+ pages of licensing agreements and developer regulations that Microsoft
posted on its Marketplace for Mobile developer page yesterday, and now you're just itching for more. How about 45 minutes and 45 seconds of hot roundtable, Windows Mobile 6.5 developer action from TechEd 2009? Jorge Peraza and John Bruno from MS talk up widgets, which will be simple little gadgets that run within the UI, yet will still be treated like full apps from a developer perspective, meaning they'll be signed, secured, and only be able to be submitted by certified developers (those who have paid their $99 fee). Also discussed is the reasoning behind 6.5's
less than groundbreaking UI, which comes down to deadlines. Eight or nine months were all the team had to write the OS; not nearly enough time for a complete presentation overhaul -- or for any Silverlight integration for that matter. Coming in version 7.0? Wouldn't surprise us. Full vid after the break.
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 6:14AM
Oh hey, guess what else
Engadget Chinese got hands-on with today? The MSI Wind
U200 that leaked yesterday. Official specs on the
Wind U100 followup are just like we said: 12-inch, 1366 x 768 pixel LED-backlit display, Celeron ULV SFF 723 processor, GMA 4500M graphics, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 2GB of DDR2 memory, and 250GB disk, and 1.4-kg with 3-cell battery. Still no pricing or release but we're sure that Computex (kicking off June 2nd) will change all that.
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 5:41AM
Hey, if you can take Google's open source OS for mobile telephones and chunk it into a netbook, then why not
digital photo frames? Fujitsu and Japan's Macnica have teamed up on what they're calling a "Software Platform for Home Network Digital Photo Frames" based on Google's Android. In other words, it's a software platform for home network digital photo frames based on Google's Android. Uh, riiight. The prototype frame above was on display in Japan yesterday running slideshows off a standard
DLNA network. Honestly, we don't care what OS is running at the core of those cheap, off-brand digital photo frames cluttering big box shelves every holiday -- just make the navigation intuitive and we're happy. Android seems like a good (and free!) start along the road to standardization.
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 4:21AM
The dream of owning a keyboard embedded with a full-blown PC running XP on an Atom N270 processor and 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display/trackpad is nearly upon us. A dream, quite honestly, nobody had prior to seeing the reveal of the 2-pound
Eee Keyboard prototype at CES in January.
Engadget Chinese has it on authority that this oddball all-in-one will ship in June with specs that should include a 32GB SSD, 802.11n, Bluetooth, HDMI-out, stereo speakers and mic as we saw during our
hands-on with the Eee Keyboard back in March. With any luck, ASUS will also be embedding some form of
ultra-wideband HDMI as promised in January alongside one of those
UWB monitor prototypes they had on display at CeBIT. One thing's for sure: all will be revealed at Computex in Taipei in just a few weeks. Can you wait?
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 3:19AM
The big Computex show in Taipei is just a few weeks away and that means laptops, tons and tons of laptops. Specifically, CULV thin-and-light laptops that Intel's hoard of dutiful manufacturers have positioned between netbooks and super-expensive, ultra-portables like the MacBook Air or
ThinkPad X301.
Engadget Chinese is at the unveiling of MSI's full range of X-Slim laptops. We've already seen the
X320/X340 up close, but this is the first time we've received official specs on the 14-inch (1366 x 768)
X400 and 15.6-inch (1366 x 768)
X600. Both feature Core 2 Solo CULV processors, an HDMI jack, hard disks up to 500GB in capacity, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, and a 2-in-1 card memory reader. The X600 adds eSATA, options for 6 or 9-cell batteries (compared to the X400's 4 or 8-cells), and bumps the graphics from integrated GMA 4500MHD to ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330. Now we're just waiting for the ship dates and prices which should start at
$699 to about $1,100.
Update: Official
press release says to expect these before June is through.
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 2:19AM
The problem with most so-called "homes of the future" is that they come off looking like a theme-park vision of the space age (read: the 1970s). The Microsoft Home, however, manages to piece together a realistic vision of our homes on a 5 to 10 year horizon -- a timeline just long enough to allow the nascent technologies of today to go mainstream. As such, it's no surprise to find dwellers interacting with the environment through gestures and voice to control interactive cooking surfaces in the kitchen and the digital wall paper in the kids' room. More prophetic perhaps, the promise that "
one day your computer will be a big-ass table" appears to be coming true in the dining room. Take the tour in video form after the break.
by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2009 at 1:10AM
With
512GB SSDs already announced it was just a matter of time until OEMs slapped that slim slab of solid state silicon into a laptop. Now our patience has paid off with Toshiba's 12.1-inch
Dynabook SS RX2/WAJ; a world's first laptop to feature
Toshiba's own 512GB SSD. Oh sure, ASUS announced its
S121 with 512GB SSD back at CES but Toshiba's laptop is the first to
actually ship. Remember, the Core 2 Duo SU9400-based SS RX2 is already the mother of ultra-portable badassery with a 12-hour battery stuffed into a slim 19.5 ~ 25.5mm sled weighing just 1.1-kg (less than 2.5-pounds). But with the SSD alone priced at about $1,500, well, you can guess how much the SS RX2 will cost configured (hint: over $4,000).
Update: As noted by tipster Grovester, the US version of this RX2 -- the Portege
R600-ST4203 -- with the same 512GB SSD lists for
just $2999. Not bad.
by Donald Melanson, posted May 14th 2009 at 12:42AM
The folks at
Boston Dynamics have already made quite a name for themselves in the world of creepy robotics, but it looks like they're not ones to keep all their know-how to themselves, and they've now lent the University of Pennsylvania's Kod*lab a hand with this new RiSE V3 pole-climbing robot. That, as you've no doubt surmised, is a followup to RiSE V1 and V2, which were developed without the help of Boston Dynamics and were more suited to climbing flat surfaces than poles. In addition to a vastly different leg mechanism, this latest model also makes use of some brushless DC motors that increase the power density to let it climb poles at rates up to 22cm per second, which the researchers say make it well-suited for a wide range of tasks. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the bot mostly seems to work remarkably well, although it's obviously not quite ready to tackle critical jobs all by itself just yet.
[Via
Hacked Gadgets]
by Ross Miller, posted May 13th 2009 at 10:41PM
Turns out the
rumors were true. Verizon's getting into the netbook business starting May 17th with the release of the HP Mini 1151 NR. Specs for this 10.1-inch, 3G-capable portable are exactly what we heard via
leaked documents, but for those just joining us: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, two USB 2.0 ports, 802.11b/g, SD slot, and Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3. As for the pricing, it's not quite as bad as previously suggested -- $200 after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year commitment. Frankly, we'd prefer paying a little more upfront on Verizon's
MiFi 2200 EV-DO router and a netbook / laptop of our choosing, with the
same Mobile Broadband data plans, but hey, we can't disagree with having more options.
by Darren Murph, posted May 13th 2009 at 10:07PM
Details are rather scant on this little gem right now, but here's what we can tell you: you're looking at the world's first
HD Radio portable device prototype, and it's slated to do just about exactly what you expect. In other words, it'll slip into your pocket, tune into HD Radio as well as standard analog FM broadcasts and connect with any set of cans that use a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. Unfortunately, the manufacturer is being kept under wraps, and there's no Bluetooth headset support baked in. That said, you can expect it to land in an undisclosed "big box retailer" this summer for under $50.
by Ross Miller, posted May 13th 2009 at 9:09PM
Looks like HTC's giving Sprint its own version of the
Snap, albeit with some slight modifications compared to the T-Mobile variant. According to the snapshots from
PPCGeeks, all specs are pretty much identical except for a 1500mAH battery in place of the 800mAH, a revived
Inner Circle, and a potentially nonexistent WiFi component. It also looks like the middle unit has been changed to a more traditional d-pad configuration. The forum poster who uploaded the pics claims it'll launch for a hair under $150 on June 7th, which would be rather odd should another
high-profile release date rumor pan out.
[Via
WMPoweruser]
by Laura June, posted May 13th 2009 at 8:19PM
Jeri Ellsworth (who previously fashioned a totally superb, functioning NES purse) has cobbled together a gigantic
Etch A Sketch using a 52-inch projection television, some tent poles, a golf tee and gear-reduced motors. The sketcher uses aluminum powder, just like in the traditional toy, and they plan on eventually enabling it for IRC bot control. Check the video after the break to see it in action, and get a glimpse of how it was constructed.
[Thanks,
Hack A Day]
by Donald Melanson, posted May 13th 2009 at 7:42PM
Audiophiles can be a particular bunch when it comes to portable media players and, at the very least, can often be found carrying a not-so-discreet portable amp around with their PMP. This new HifiMAN HM-801 device aims to make their lives a tad easier, however, with it combining a Burr-Brown PCM1704 DAC and a OPA627 op-amp in a single modular unit that'll also let folks swap in their own amp of choice if they so desire. As you might expect, however, while it doesn't cut any corners when it comes to sound quality (including full support for FLAC and lossless WMA), it's pretty no frills otherwise, with no video support or other media-related features to speak of, and no internal storage of its own (you'll have to rely on SDHC cards). At $700, it unsurprisingly also doesn't come cheap, although Head-Fi.org forum members that pre-order it in advance of the June release can at least save $100.
[Via
SlashGear]
by Donald Melanson, posted May 13th 2009 at 6:56PM
It wasn't all that long ago that
DisplayLink was still
courting manufacturers and
showing off its then newfangled USB graphics adapter technology, but the company is now celebrating a fairly significant milestone, with it announcing that it has sold more than a million of its USB graphics chips. Those have found their way into more than thirty different products from a number of manufacturers, including both
wired and
wireless USB adapters,
projectors,
USB docking stations, and a whole range of
USB-connected monitors. Of course, DisplayLink isn't about to rest on its laurels now, and it says it expects to see an even greater range of products using its chips as wireless USB and
USB 3.0 become the norm.
[Via
I4U News]
by Chris Ziegler, posted May 13th 2009 at 6:11PM
Sprint is kicking off an exciting little contest that'll ultimately award two lucky winners with their very own
Pres,
Touchstones, and one year of
Simply Everything service -- pretty awesome stuff. Both Sprint and Palm have been famously tight-lipped about pricing for the Pre thus far, but using a few basic calculations derived from the game's legalese, an eagle-eyed tipster pointed out that it seems that we can probably get within a few bucks of the full retail price. Here's the deal: we know that Simply Everything runs $99 a month. After federal taxes, FCC surcharges, and some fudge factor for local taxes, you're looking at, say, $105 to $110 a month. We can say with some confidence now that the Touchstone itself
will run $69.99 at retail -- and that leaves the Pre itself. Sprint's rules say that the prize package's approximate retail value is $1,800, so if you subtract $105 for the plan (since Sprint can't be factoring in local taxes here) and $70 for the Touchstone, that basically leaves you with a nice, round $469.99. That sounds like a big number at first, but first off, very few folks will be paying $470 for a Pre -- they'll either be upgrading or adding new lines at a significant subsidy -- and to put the number in perspective, AT&T charges $549.99 full retail for the BlackBerry Bold. We're basically just thinking out loud here, but $470 seems like it'd give Sprint plenty of wiggle room to blow this thing out on contract, doesn't it? Check out shots of Sprint's mind-blowing contest for the ages after the break.
[Thanks, Jonathan]
by Donald Melanson, posted May 13th 2009 at 5:46PM
It's been a
long time coming, but the
six-cell battery for HP's Mini 1000 netbook is now finally making its way into the hands of some eager users, and
jkOnTheRun has taken a minute to give folks an idea of what's in store. As you can see above (and from another angle at the link below), the battery is amazingly even more unsightly than suggested in earlier shots, although it does expectedly deliver the goods when it comes to battery life, with
jkOnTheRun managing about six hours on a charge. Of course, you'll have to decide for yourself if that's worth the $100+ price tag, not to mention the cost to your Mini 1000's self-esteem.
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